Dreams of Future Past
by CheerfulChemist
Summary: #CastleFicathon2018 "Kate's fingers were slipping, and her feet could find no purchase. The man who had put a bullet in her chest had thrown her over the edge of the roof like a rag doll, but right now her thoughts were far from him. They were only of the man who said he loved her; the man who'd tried to keep her from plunging into the abyss; the man she'd pushed away."
1. Chapter 1

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 1

Kate's fingers were slipping, and her feet could find no purchase. The man who had put a bullet in her chest had thrown her over the edge of the roof like a rag doll, but right now her thoughts were far from him. They were only of the man who said he loved her; the man who'd tried to keep her from plunging into the abyss; the man she'd pushed away. Her vision blurred, and her breath came in gasps as time swirled backward.

* * *

The line stretched around the block. She was cold. The bookstore was hosting signings in preparation for the Christmas rush. She could feel the wind chapping her cheeks as she thrust her gloved hands into her pockets and pulled her coat tightly around her body. She was going to see him. She had to see him. Richard Castle's books had been her lifeline. Every one of them had been on her mother's shelf. Kate could feel her presence as reading them swept her into a world where flawed men were nonetheless heroes who could love women of intelligence and strength. Johanna had possessed those qualities and more, and Kate wished she had her mother's faith that God never gave anyone more than they could handle. But it seemed that on that awful day when Detective John Raglan had shown up to break the heart-rending news, God had broken that promise. Kate was desperately trying to keep things together, both for herself and her father, who was seeking solace not in the pages of a book but the depths of a bottle. The line led to the source of the only comfort Kate had left, and she would stand in it for as long as it took to reach him.

The first thing Kate noticed about Richard Castle was his eyes. They were blue, but not the watery blue that gazed out blandly from the faces of bimbos. His orbs were tinged with gray and attention as he looked up at her and smiled. "Who should I make it out to?"

She swallowed as her throat tightened around the words. "Kate, my name is Kate."

He extended his arm to her. "Lovely to meet you, Kate, I'm Rick."

His hand dwarfed her slender fingers within it. She could feel the warmth from it flowing through her. She held on as long as she could until he gently pulled away to sign her book. "To Kate, may your days become brighter and your footsteps sure on the path ahead. Richard Castle."

It wasn't what she'd expected from the master of the clever quip. It was as if he'd sensed her grief. She couldn't help but smile back, even as tears threatened to well in her eyes. "Thank you."

* * *

Kate had only to glance at the crime scene to recognize the tableau. Sunflowers on the eyes and rose petals providing modesty for the body. It was from _Flowers for Your Grave_ by Richard Castle. Her heart thudded against her ribs at the devastating possibility that Castle, Rick, could have something to do with the murder. It wasn't likely. Probably some deranged killer had used the book as a template for his crime. Still, she would have to question Castle. She had firmly commanded her face to show no hint of a smile at that thought - not in front of Ryan and Esposito. As she teased them about their lack of literary acumen, she worked hard to suppress her excitement at seeing Castle again.

* * *

The book party was raucous and full of sycophantic fans, mostly women. Richard Castle was talking to none of them. He was conversing with a teenager with red hair. She'd read somewhere that he had a daughter, although he made no mention of it on his website. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn't have either. There were too many crazies looking to kidnap the child of a famous actor or author.

She didn't expect him to remember her. It had been almost 10 years since she had been one of many fans vying for his attention. And she didn't really want him to. Then, she had been a teenager struggling to put one foot in front of the other. Now she was in charge, and she intended to stay that way. She flashed her badge.

* * *

She regarded him as he stared at her across the table in interrogation. He looked a little drunk and unlike most of the people she questioned, excited rather than scared to be there. And he was coming on to her. That was both exhilarating and disquieting. If the fact that a murder had taken place was disturbing to him, he didn't show it.

When she'd flipped through his file, he'd seemed more like a spoiled child than the compassionate man who'd read the sorrow in her eyes and written words of encouragement. Perhaps he'd changed - and not for the better. Or maybe the eyes of a troubled teen had seen just what they wanted to see. But, just for a moment, when he'd offered to let her spank him, she was tempted to take him up on it.

* * *

He kept gazing at her as they went through his fan letters together. He insisted that he was there for the story. When she challenged him to come up with hers, he was right on target. She felt as if he'd stripped her bare with just a few words. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to kiss him. She did neither. She couldn't understand her own feelings and she sure as hell couldn't understand his. That was the most maddening thing of all.

* * *

Kate could see the sympathy in Castle's eyes - oh God, those eyes - when he looked at Kyle. She was sure that the developmentally disabled young man had killed Alison Tisdale. It was her job to see that Alison and the other victims received justice. In some small way, it helped her feel a little better despite knowing that her mother had not.

Castle seemed more concerned with her suspect than closing the case. She was infuriated and relieved at the same time. This Castle was more the man she remembered; the one who had shown compassion to a girl he'd never met before and never expected to meet again. It was confusing. He was confusing her. She shook it off. She was the cop. He was only a writer, even if he was too insightful for comfort.

* * *

She saw the gun pointed at Castle's head, and she was terrified. She'd tried her best to keep him out of harm's way, but he didn't listen. He never listened. He did exactly what he wanted to do no matter what she did. Even handcuffing him hadn't helped. And now the idiot was going to get himself killed. She was wondering if she could make the shot; take out Alison's brother without hitting Castle, when Rick made his move, clocking and disarming the killer. When he'd smugly announced that he was never in any danger because the safety had been on the whole time, she'd wanted to kill him herself. But she still wanted to kiss him. She wanted to kiss him so long and so hard that he would be as confused as she was. But she had a murderer to take into custody.


	2. Chapter 2

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 2

Kate couldn't believe what Montgomery was doing to her. Without giving her any recourse, he declared that Castle could follow her around for research purposes - and not just for a few cases, for as long as the obnoxious writer wanted. Castle wiggled an eyebrow and smirked at her. She hated the idea, didn't she? He was always intruding into her space and her mind. She could feel his presence on her skin and maybe lower down.

* * *

She would have to make sure he stayed out of the line of fire, even if he had proved pretty good at taking care of himself so far, his luck could always run out. Her stomach clenched at the thought of a world with no more Richard Castle books. Much as she would never say it out loud and hated to admit it to herself, she still needed them. She still needed him.

At least for the moment, Castle would be occupied. The lawyer from the N.Y.P.D had shown up with reams of paper divesting the department of responsibility for anything that might happen to Castle while he dogged her heels. Instead of passing the documents on to his own attorney, as anyone with an ounce of sense would do, Castle was signing everything in the stack. She could go out on the case in peace.

* * *

Somehow, he followed her anyway. But she had to concede if only to herself that he probably knew more about children and nannies than she did. While they questioned the victims best friend at a playground, he'd seemed right at home. He explained that he had taken his own daughter to the park every day, which was a sweet image. He promptly ruined that by claiming it was to get laid by single mothers. She only half believed that. Surrounded by kids, he was like every parent and nanny there, always keeping at least one eye on the children. He cared about all of them, even if he took pains not to show it. She couldn't understand why he was acting that way. She didn't want to care why, but she did.

* * *

She could see the understanding and sympathy in his eyes when he realized that she was the one who would have to notify the victim's parents. That was a part of the job that tore her apart. He could see it right through her facade of professionalism. He saw too freaking much.

* * *

He was still ahead of her, just like he was in their first case together. He twigged to the time discrepancy in the elevator trips, something she hadn't even thought to check. He also noticed the absence of the child, something she missed entirely. Was she slow on the uptake or did he just have her rattled? She didn't know.

She was used to being the smartest one in the room and losing that status was infuriating but also sexy as hell. If she was going to be able to do her job, the attraction was something she should ignore. She just wished that she could.

* * *

Her fingers slipped another fraction of an inch, and the ground spun beneath her. She called to Castle as the memories once more took hold.

* * *

She could see the body in the boat. He was only a boy, a teenage boy. She hated tracking down the killers of kids. It was hard to tell what Castle was thinking. It was evident that he felt a connection to kids, maybe because he was still mostly a kid himself - except that what she felt when he was around was very adult - too adult.

* * *

The friends of Donny, the murdered boy, were the kind of entitled prep school kids Kate hated, but she was playing along, pretending she was a Yorkie. It was ironic. Their parents were paying a fortune for their education, but she probably got a better one for free at Stuyvesant. If any of those kids could have passed the entrance exam, she would have been surprised. To fulfill the requirements that were almost twice the number of credits of most other schools in the city, they wouldn't have had time to hang around in the park or go shopping for purses that were worth several day's pay.

* * *

Castle told her he went to private schools and was tossed out of some of the best ones in the city. He couldn't resist causing trouble. Was that his version of rebellion? He didn't seem too fond of the kids who thought of themselves as above the crowd, either. She wondered what school had been like for him. He seemed to have so many friends in the city, from the mayor on down. He freaking went to games with Captain Montgomery! But he never mentioned friends from school. With no father and a mother on the road doing theater, could he have been an outcast in the rarified air of the upper crust? She could picture a young Castle playing the clown, desperate to fit in. She pushed the image away. Physical attraction was bad enough. She didn't have to add sympathy on top of it. He probably didn't deserve it anyway.

* * *

He was doing it again! They had a great suspect in the drug dealer. Donny owed him money, so he killed him. Simple. Case closed. Except that Castle didn't believe it. But Castle hadn't accepted the tight case they'd had against Kyle either. And he'd been right. Could he be right this time too? She had a sinking feeling that he might be. The kids all had their stories straight - too straight. Nothing was ever that neat. She knew that Castle knew it also.

* * *

As she and Castle watched the video of Donny being killed, it seemed to back up what the preppy jerk Brandon had claimed. Castle flinched and turned away as the shot was fired. He wondered how Donny's parents would feel when she saw it. The father, the man, was peeking out from behind his boyish veneer. She resisted the urge to run her fingers over the deepening lines of his face.

* * *

She knew that Brandon was behind the killing. But the only confession he would make was that he wanted to get his hand under her blouse. She and Castle would have to work together. Castle was playing on the boy's ego, flattering him for his strength and insisting that weak people just didn't get it.

It only took one word, "Exactly," for the cocky high schooler to hang himself. And Brandon never would have said it without Castle. His writer's skill with words elicited Brandon's admission against interest.

The impulse to kiss Castle almost overcame her again. But she couldn't let it. Castle was too proud of himself. She fell back on covering with banter. He would go home preening, leaving her with the mounds of paperwork it would take to help the D.A. turn the one-word confession into a conviction.

* * *

Kate's fingers were getting numb. She kicked at the wall, hoping to gain some lift. That worked in the obstacle course she'd had to conquer at the academy. Run at a wall and kick hard to propel yourself upward and over. But she couldn't run now. There was no training sergeant to urge her on. There were no classmates to outshine. She was alone. She'd done it to herself. Castle had only wanted to love her, to save her from a battle she couldn't win. She couldn't let him in. She tried to remember why. The memories rose again jerking her back in time.


	3. Chapter 3

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 3

Kate had no idea why Castle was sitting there commenting about the coffee, He wasn't complaining exactly, just curious about how it could taste like a monkey peed in battery acid. Even without accepting the sip he offered, Kate knew he was right. It was awful. But there was nothing to keep him from leaving and picking up the good stuff at the Java Hut a block away. Then it hit her, and she turned on him triumphantly. "You have a book coming out today, and you're hiding!" He tried unconvincingly to deny it. She might have pushed harder, but a case saved him from his embarrassment and her from her paperwork.

* * *

Ryan explained that when the body was found rolled up in a rug that had been rescued from a dumpster, he and Espo thought of her. Ryan said it with a smile, but it was a dig at her love of weird cases, the love that had gotten her entangled with Castle in the first place.

* * *

It wasn't as if her unwelcome shadow didn't make himself useful. The victim had no ID, and his face was nothing to write home about, but Castle recognized him as Councilman Jeffrey Horn. She'd expected him to make one of his half-assed comments when she broke the news to Laurie Horn, Jeffrey's wife, but he didn't. The man was peeking out from the brat again.

* * *

She took advantage of what was probably a brief display of adulthood in the car to ask about what had been nagging at her. She needed to know what her alter ego would be like. Castle insisted that she would have nothing to be embarrassed about. Kate's character would be smart and savvy. Then the spoiled middle-schooler reappeared as he added that her fictional cop would be a little slutty.

Even as her jaw clenched she couldn't help wondering if the portrayal might be more accurate than she was willing to admit. She'd had her sexual adventures. There was the guy from the grunge band and then - Oh God! - there was Rogan O'Leary! She'd been stupid enough to hook up with a pathological liar! There had been others, like Will, who was serious about her. But she had never been able to return the intensity of their feelings. When Will had been transferred, she'd never even considered following him.

Some of the girls she knew from Stuy had met someone at college and gotten married. A few of them even had kids. She couldn't see herself doing the same anytime soon, and she had no idea why. So, she never got too involved. She couldn't get too involved. Maybe that did make her a little slutty, but it also kept her from being vulnerable.

Castle was vulnerable. She could see the pain and fear in his eyes when Martha called. She wanted to reach out and make it better, but she kept her hands on the wheel.

* * *

They questioned Calvin Creason at his hotel, it was clear that Castle didn't like him. That was strange. The two spoiled rich men should have bonded as birds of a feather, but apparently, Castle didn't think so. Councilman Horn had killed a multimillion-dollar project Creason was planning, in committee. That gave him a motive. And his alibi sucked.

* * *

Walking down the hall, Castle wanted to know why she didn't come down on Creason harder. It was maddening to realize that he still didn't get that unlike the characters in his books, she didn't turn the screws on someone without evidence.

Her anger rose when he announced unabashedly that he had emailed pictures of the rug Horn had been wrapped in to his interior decorator. It got worse. He confided that sleeping with the decorator, someone he worked with, made things awkward. He called it a cautionary tale.

It stung to think that even if she gave in and admitted that she wanted to go to bed with him, he might reject her. But his gambit had worked. His ex-bedpartner had recognized the rug. The Creason hotel was full of identical ones. He'd managed to find evidence when she couldn't. That made the pain even worse.

* * *

Castle opined that she was very good at bossing men around. It was true with Ryan and Esposito, but she wasn't sure she'd enjoy it if Castle started to obey her orders. As annoying as it was, she had a grudging respect for the fact that he stood his ground. Sparring was no good with a partner who couldn't hit back.

* * *

Creason didn't have to kill Horn; he just had to wait. The pictures of Horn getting it off with a woman who was definitely not Laurie proved that. The family values candidate would have lost his bid for re-election.

She expected Castle to enjoy looking at the salacious photographs. She hadn't expected him to defend the woman. And she hadn't expected his disgust when he insisted that most people were hypocrites. He continued to surprise her, and she was at a loss how to handle it.

* * *

The path to Horn's hooker led out of state. Kate was resigned to wading through the morass it would take to find her. When Castle decided to call the beautiful and sexy Tiffany for a date, Kate's anger at his violation of police procedure was tinged with jealousy. She'd wanted to hit him. She would have grabbed his ear if he'd been close enough.

* * *

Kate grimaced as Castle politely seated Tiffany at a restaurant table. Why the hell did he have to look so good, with a blue shirt bringing out the blue of his eyes that had so fascinated her from their first meeting? Castle apologized to the working girl for the deception. Kate wouldn't have. The woman was breaking the law! The man she tried so hard to think of as a jerk, was even gracious to a prostitute. When Tiffany explained that men were lonely and used sex as a connection, Kate couldn't help wondering if Castle fell into that category. And it wasn't just men. Maybe she fell into the category too.

* * *

Castle grinned as an upscale espresso machine was wheeled into for the break room. Ryan and Esposito were enthusiastic, but she refused to admit that she could appreciate foamy richness, in any way he meant it. She wasn't about to give Castle the opening.

* * *

He caught her using the machine, but he didn't even tease her. What? He just gave her the solution to the case.

* * *

Castle stood at the podium in the bookstore, reading the final words of _Storm Fall_ to a rapt and weepy audience, mostly of women. She chose her short hot pink dress because she knew it would distract him. She justified herself by proclaiming that if he were going to bother her at work, she would do the same to him. But it had just been an excuse to hear the words on the page coming from his lips. And she needed to know something she had forgotten to ask. What would Castle be calling her character, the replacement for the now late Derrick Storm?

Nikki Heat? It was a freaking stripper name! He reminded her that he'd said her character was kind of slutty and refused to change his mind. He was more on target than he knew. The flush of anger in her cheeks was not the only part of her body that was feeling the heat.


	4. Chapter 4

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 4

Kate fought the dizziness as she looked down. There were balconies not too far below her, but they were either to her right or left. If she could just swing a little. As numb as her fingers were and with one hand? She tried, and almost lost her hold entirely. She was held only by her fingertips. They wouldn't hold for long. Castle. She wanted Castle. Would she die young and alone just like…?

* * *

Kate carefully drew the watch and the ring from their special box. The oversized watch was bulky on her wrist, but the weight of it was comforting. The ring around her neck was a reminder of her failure. The thing she'd joined the force to do was not done. She'd pushed it aside, as she'd pushed aside so much. But to stay sane, she'd had to let it go. Hadn't she?

* * *

Castle was already at the scene with coffee. Thank God! Her appreciation for the gesture was cut short as he barraged her with jokes about cold cases and ruby slippers. Damn! She'd just wanted to enjoy the coffee for a moment. She countered with flying monkeys. His insights about the incident were too useful, too on point. It was galling.

* * *

The stacks of missing persons files were her revenge, but it wasn't sweet, just a reminder of how many people were lost. Sometimes she felt like one of them. Part of her was missing too. A turkey? Was Castle basing his theory on the thawing of a turkey? As annoying as it was, she was afraid he was right.

* * *

He couldn't have read the whole file in the two minutes she'd been in the ladies' room, could he? No one could read that fast. Or if they did, they'd miss something. He didn't. The man had a freaking photographic memory. She hoped Montgomery didn't know that. He'd want him around even more than he was already. She wasn't sure she could take any more Castle.

When Castle suggested that the Cavanaughs might have loved the institution of marriage but not the day to day, she couldn't help accusing him of the same. Her stomach jumped into her throat at the look he gave her when he suggested that he just hadn't found the right girl yet. Could he mean her? Her feelings were at war. Did she love the idea that she might be the one, or did she hate it? Hating it was safer, but…

* * *

She could see that though Melanie Cavanaugh's father was running around with his granddaughters, he limped. It was probably the most visible of his wounds. When the grieving Ben Davidson quickly convinced Castle that Sam Cavanaugh's behavior had been suspicious, he convinced her too.

Her anger flared. Sloan, the detective in charge of the case, had been lazy and negligent. She wanted to face the man with his failure, to make him understand how he'd failed Melanie. Castle was uncharacteristically subdued as he asked her about the watch. He had that part of the story wrong, but she couldn't summon the words to correct him.

* * *

Melanie's boyfriend was asking if Kate had ever been in love. With all the relationships she'd had with men over the years, had she really loved any of them? Had she been willing to change her life the way he'd wanted to change his, to be worthy of someone's love? She shrank at the "no" that beat against her brain. She'd never been there. She'd never let herself be touched that deeply. Was she even capable of opening herself up that much? It was hard for her to understand how someone could.

Castle could. More than that, he suggested that if Melanie had been disconnected enough from her husband to take a lover, the husband might have had one too. He did.

* * *

Castle cut right through Elizabeth Forte's excuses for why she'd ended her affair with Sam Cavanaugh, insisting that she was scared. That struck too close to home for Kate. How many relationships had she ended because she was afraid? How many would her fear prevent her from starting? Could Castle be one of them?

* * *

She was alone, staring at the murder board. She knew Sam Cavanaugh had killed his wife, but how? The case was solved, but she didn't have her answers. How had Melanie ended up in a freezer in a storage unit? She needed to know. Her nails dug into her palms as she admitted to herself that there was only one person who could help her.

* * *

The Castle answering the door was in full on man-child mode, with laser tag gear strapped to his body and goggles perched on his head. He seemed as surprised to see her as she was to be there, uncharacteristically grappling for words, until Alexis intervened like a surrogate mother to remind him of his manners. His real mother seemed unembarrassed at receiving a visitor with her face covered in green goo. Kate wondered if she'd ever be that secure.

Castle offered her a drink, and she was tempted to accept one. His loft was intimidating. She knew that places like that in Manhattan went for millions of dollars. Invading it uninvited was uncomfortable at best, but not as hard to accept as unanswered questions.

He understood what she needed. Looking at the screen in his office, she realized that he put the pieces of his stories together the same way she pieced together the answers to a real murder. Crap! Why did he have to bring up getting laid when he suggested they walk the crime scene? Sex with Castle was the last thing she needed on her mind, even as visions of it intruded on her thoughts.

* * *

Castle didn't just want to be in Sam Cavanaugh's apartment. He wanted to pretend they were husband and wife. The idea was compelling, too compelling. She pushed against it as hard as she could. But even as she did, they went through the motions of the crime, finishing each other's sentences, their minds melding. Even as she resisted, she'd never been that in tune with anyone before.

And they were right about the freezer. The neighbor confirmed it. But another cop had asked about it. How could that be? Could Sloan have known and still let the case go? Believing someone could do that, burned at her soul. But hadn't she let her mother's case go? Wasn't her mother more important to her than Melanie would have been to Sloan? The contradiction made her head spin even as the ground was spinning below.

Castle had another answer. The cop who asked wasn't Sloan. The cop with the limp was Melanie's father, who cared too deeply about her to let her disappearance go.

* * *

Castle was on Ben Davidson's side all the way. Kate could see the empathy of one father for another. This wasn't the man-child, this was the man.

* * *

She gazed at her father's watch, and the story poured out. There were no quips from Castle, just a writer's hopeful "Until tomorrow."

Kate could not be that hopeful. She'd seen too much death, too much loss. He would be returning to the love of his family. She'd be greeted by an empty apartment. She could only respond with a cop's farewell of "Night," and watch as Castle walked away.

A/N Guest, the point of this story is not to rehash what was on the screen, but what was in Kate's head. It is about what she was thinking and how she really felt about her interactions with Castle. Those are things the show didn't tell us. She is remembering how she experienced events, not how we saw them.


	5. Chapter 5

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 5

Castle isn't himself. The crime scene is fascinating with a strange symbol, red flannel, and candles. But he isn't even looking at it. He isn't even making a wisecrack until she manages to get his attention. Then he drops the bomb. He had sex with his ex-wife, the first one, Alexis' mother.

Questions swirl through Kate's mind. Who is the woman that has Castle in a cloud somewhere? Is she beautiful? Alexis is a redhead. Could wife No. 1 be one too? Maybe redheads are Castle's passion. Don't men marry women like their mothers? Maybe she should tint her hair red. Wait! What was Castle calling his ex-wife? A deep-fried Twinkie? And saying that the sex with her was unbelievable because she was crazy? How could the sonofabitch describe any woman that way, especially one he'd just slept with, one who's given him a daughter?

Kate didn't know whether to be mad or relieved. She hated hearing that kind of garbage, but it also gave her an excuse, a good excuse to keep her distance from Castle. Except that he knew too much about the case already. He recognized what had been done to the body. Of course, he did! It was from _Unholy Storm_. The book hadn't been one of her favorites. She'd only read it twice, not enough to remember the details of Vodou. That was if his details had borne any resemblance to reality.

But his research was usually pretty good. He did have a massive affection for the public library. At the speed he read, he'd probably steamed his way through the shelves. And he knew about the pouch in the mouth of the victim. At least he couldn't identify the symbol. He wasn't that far ahead of her. Maybe his source would be easier to deal with than he was.

* * *

Kate grit her teeth. Castle was reading to her from _Unholy Storm_. She liked the sound of his voice way too much. She would have loved it even if he was reading the phone book - if anyone used phone books anymore. But a book-reading was getting the case nowhere. He claimed he had another source, but he had wasted enough of her time, even if she had enjoyed it.

She was almost through the door when his real source showed up with a bag in each hand. Kate had to admit the food was excellent, even if she choked a little when she found out it was cow's foot stew. Castle had pulled a number on her, or maybe just played on her prejudices. He was right; she did like it. That was as maddening as being fooled.

She also had to admit that Michelle, Castle's source, was as good as the food. She knew about Vodou, and she recognized the symbol. Castle had managed to steer the investigation in the right direction, even as he got under her skin doing it. At least when he brought Kate to the loft, the deep-fried Twinkie wasn't there.

* * *

Kate smugly watched as Castle puffed up the stairs. The sixth-floor walk-up was no picnic for her legs, but at least she wasn't breathing hard. His sympathy for the Nigerian immigrants surprised her. She tried so hard to put him in the box of a self-absorbed brat that it was disturbing when he expressed compassion for those living in squalid conditions.

In her discomfiture, she missed what he spotted: the red flannel and the candles, just like those used in the ritual killing. At least she had someone to question. Azi didn't look like a murderer. But then killers rarely did, or she'd be out of a job.

* * *

The woman's voice insisting on gaining access to the bullpen, grated. Turning away from the photograph of the second victim's purse on the murder board, Kate spotted Alexis uncomfortably in the wake of - yes, a redhead - who waltzed in as if she owned the place. She was acting as if she owned Castle too. He called her Meredith. She was calling him Kitten. Kate could see him wince. Her tongue rounded her lips. That was delicious. The nickname was something she could use. It would be almost as good as twisting his earlobe, for inflicting a little pain. And after pushing his obvious enjoyment of sex with this obnoxious woman in Kate's face - he deserved a little torture.

As annoying as she was, Meredith was coming in handy. She identified the purse as a knockoff. Kate would never have known the difference, but then she wasn't that shallow - was she?

* * *

Oni's stall on Canal Street had apparently been searched - and not gently. The marks on the floor that Castle identified as the symbol for death meant that Oni was not their killer, but he might be the next victim. And the purses had been ripped apart. Whatever the murderer had been looking for, he must have thought he'd find it stitched inside.

Where the hell did Castle go? He was like a teenager, preening in front of the camera across the street. When he remarked that he really was ruggedly handsome, she would have agreed, but she could never give him the satisfaction of knowing it. He continued to sound infantile with his interest in what women would do in front of a camera. God!

Still, he'd found the way to the clue they needed, again. They had a picture of the man who'd tossed the stall, the man who was most like their killer.

* * *

Castle was going to drive her insane. First, he'd insisted on wearing a Kevlar vest with "WRITER" on it. She didn't want him to need a vest; she didn't want him anywhere near the line of fire. As usual, he ignored her orders. He got himself so distracted that his eyes, which usually and aggravatingly missed nothing, couldn't even get a license plate on the killer's car. She could dig at him, using "Kitten," to make her barbs sting even more.

* * *

There was enough evidence, thanks in part to Castle's musings about chi, to know where the killer was going to get the address of his next victim. Baylor was just ahead of them, finding the yoga studio. He had Diane's address.

* * *

She needed to put pedal to the metal with lights and siren. She thought she and Castle were in time, but Baylor's bullets said otherwise. They were trapped, and she only had two rounds left in her clip. He used his phone to get Baylor's position, but she had no angle. What Castle wanted to do was crazy - using the pop of a Champagne cork to bring Baylor into the open so she could get her shot. The boy had disappeared entirely. The man was risking his life - to save her.

* * *

Castle was drinking Champagne out of the bottle. He deserved it, and if she hadn't been on duty, she would have grabbed a drink herself. Typical. He was going to hold his life-saving maneuver over her head, insisting that she owed him anything he wanted.

Would he ask to sleep with her? The idea was exciting when it should have been appalling. She could feel warmth growing between her thighs as he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Never, ever, call me 'Kitten,' again" She could go along with that. But was she smiling in relief or to cover her disappointment?


	6. Chapter 6

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 6

She and Castle were voicing the same thoughts too often for comfort, especially when he caught her on the jinx. But she got back at him with a reverse double jinx. He would have to keep his mouth shut until she released him. Maybe she could make it last through their entire examination of the crime scene. No such luck. He wouldn't shut up; he just promised her a soda. He kept making observations on the case.

He was much more comfortable in the surroundings, however gruesome than she was. He noted the neighborhood was the very high end of the city, which was saying something considering what his loft was worth. And he had an opinion on the jewelry. It would have to be very high end too. More Castle's price range than Kate's. That made sense. Why else keep it in a safe? But why stuff the body in it? That was just evil, and it gave her the shudders. Castle was insisting that the home invaders knew their targets well. How could the poor woman whose broken limbs poked from the bloody recess in the wall know people like that?

* * *

Kate could feel the depth of Joanne Delgado's grief. She had shared it. She was doing her best to calm the victim's daughter but really didn't expect to succeed. For once Castle was silent, as Kate spoke the words to provide the little comfort she could. Promising to do everything in her power to catch a killer was not the same as bringing one to justice. And even then, Joanne's mother would still be gone.

Castle complemented her on how well she had handled Joanne and the way she had expressed empathy. Empathy was one thing she didn't have to summon. Acute awareness of her mother's death was always with her. Castle handed her the soda he'd promised to buy her. She'd forgotten, but he hadn't. The cool can felt good in her hand, something concrete to hold on to as she relived her own loss.

Castle was more disturbed than she expected him to be. He'd always seemed enthralled rather than distressed by a crime, even a heinous one. He wondered out loud what would happen to Alexis if something happened to him. When Kate brought up Meredith, she knew her response was useless, even before Castle described his ex-wife as more like an aunt with a credit card than a parent.

From what she'd seen of the flighty actress, Kate was willing to bet that Castle was the one paying the bills. You'd think he would have had his lawyer get him a better deal. That was one more thing about Castle she had yet to figure out. He was much more accepting of responsibility than the childish persona he insisted on portraying. Could he be hiding his feelings even more than she was?

* * *

Evan Mitchell, the best suspect Kate had, wasn't about to tell her anything. He'd been around the interrogation block too many times to spill the beans to a cop, although he was more than willing to make fun of Castle's metro-sexual appearance. It was true that Castle's professional manicure was better than her application of polish to her own nails. Castle's hair stylist probably cost 10 times what hers did too. She had to show some strength, but when she jammed the table up against Mitchell, he didn't waiver. Breaking him was a lost cause.

* * *

The shooting range was one place to work off her anger. Her aim was good, if not perfect. It didn't help when Castle showed up and suggested that it would make more sense to shoot at a target that wasn't standing still. He was right, of course. In the field, a suspect would be unlikely to allow her to draw a careful bead. But she couldn't admit that to him.

Hell, she'd make him embarrass himself. He did seem to be a man who couldn't shoot straight, as she instructed him in the basics, using it as an excuse to put her hands on his body. She even teased him about cuddling when he shot too soon. What was she doing making a joke about sex with him, especially one he seemed to enjoy way too much?

He wanted photos of the jewelry stolen in the robberies. She didn't have to say no. It would be more fun to issue a challenge to get one of his three remaining shots in the 10-ring. When all three of his bullets hit the mark, even as he complimented her on being a very good teacher, she knew she'd been played. It would take a lot more shooting to burn off her frustration, now.

* * *

Castle broke into the crime scene! Worse, he said he'd brought a master thief who'd somehow disappeared into the night, with him. Threatening to taze him if he ever tried anything like that again was no help. The idiot seemed to like the idea. And he wanted to talk to Mitchell on his own. Something his ghost had told him made him think the reticent second story man knew more than he was telling. She wanted to see Castle try. He hadn't fallen on his face at the shooting range, but he wouldn't score a win with Mitchell.

* * *

She'd be happy if she weren't so damn pissed off. Castle got Mitchell to talk about the gang and the bump key. Not only that, but he got a description of the sadistic shot caller behind the robberies. Too bad Joanne Delgado didn't recognize the sketch.

* * *

They were back to square one, well almost. It had to be Castle who would spot the commonality among the victims. To make it worse, he came up with tickets to the gala where whoever fingered them might be looking for his next marks. She assured him she could dress for black tie. She hoped she was right.

* * *

None of the dresses Kate presented could pass muster with Lanie. The ringing of the doorbell interrupted her agony. It was a dress from him. The arrogant jerk hadn't believed her. But God, he had good taste.

* * *

She bit her lip. In his tux, Castle looked, gorgeous, like he had just stepped out of a James Bond movie. Martha offered to lend her an incredible piece of jewelry to go with the dress. She and Castle would make a beautiful couple, too beautiful. At least she could throw a monkey wrench into whatever underhanded plans he had, by telling Martha where they were going.

* * *

Oh, God! Castle had talked to the mayor about her. She needed a drink, preferably a bottle of vodka. She instructed Castle to bring her water, but he could see through her act.

Ruthie was pumping her for information, but if there was anything Kate understood, it was the art of interrogation. So, every woman on the register was trying to land Castle? They called him the "White Whale." The second word in the title of the book would be more accurate. When they danced, she could feel just how accurate. But that was something she never wanted to explore, did she?

Castle was genuinely upset when the women started bidding for him. Kate would have thought someone as self-absorbed as he was would enjoy the attention. But she wasn't about to answer his pleas for rescue. It was too much fun to watch him squirm.

He was watching something else that she had completely missed - a man taking pictures of the room. He'd been right. The victims were being spotted, and the spotter was the lead they needed.

* * *

Castle promised to stay in the car for the takedown, but the killer got away from Kate's team and went after him. They were grappling on the ground. She managed to put an end to it, but not before the killer managed to get in a good punch at Castle's eye. She couldn't show him how much it bothered her, to see it land.

* * *

She shouldn't have pulled anything out of evidence. She knew better. But she wished she had a locket like that to remember her mother. She'd have to give it back to Joanne. At least if she couldn't have justice for her mother, another daughter would.

* * *

Returning Martha's necklace would make a great excuse to check up on Castle. His black eye looked painful, but he seemed proud of appearing butch. Maybe Mitchell's comments about the manicure and the haircut didn't slide off his back the way she thought they had. He offered her breakfast while she told the story of dénouement of the case to an eager Alexis and Martha. She shouldn't stay. She shouldn't get any closer to this family. But she couldn't help herself then, any more than she could now.


	7. Chapter 7

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 7

She'd finally been included in the poker game and Martha kept pointing out Castle's tells to her. Why the actress would want to sabotage her son's game like that, she had no idea, but it seemed to be Castle against everyone else at the table. After Martha and the boys folded it was down to just her and Castle. According to Martha's read, he both had and didn't have the cards. But Kate had started off with the ace and king of spades. She knew she had him and pushed her chips forward. Victory was hers as he laid his cards face down on the table. She'd scored just in time for an after-midnight murder. But there was no enjoying her triumph. Castle was too pumped about a new dead body to care about losing.

* * *

Castle declared that the motor oil that surrounded the body in the tub was a message. She was more concerned with who sent it, but he insisted on carrying the metaphor forward, that Westchester suburban housewife, Allison Goldman, had come to the city for a lube job. He'd also decided the killing was pre-planned. She had to go along with him on that. Hotel minibars didn't come stocked with 10-W40.

* * *

At least Castle showed some adult behavior when they questioned the husband. His voice was soft and his face sympathetic. He seemed to genuinely feel Michael Goldman's loss. She hadn't expected that from a man with two divorces under his belt.

* * *

Castle seemed back to his old dirty-minded self at the precinct when he and Ryan and Esposito bounced theories off each other about Allison Goldman's imaginary boyfriend. It was infuriating as they spun a story with no evidence to back it up. Then the evidence dragged itself into the bullpen.

Michael Goldman was barely holding it together, as he poured out the story of his dead wife's Social Security number matching that of a dead infant. His wife had never been the woman she said she was. Their whole life together was a lie. Kate wondered how much of her life was a lie, if not to the world, to herself.

Another lie was exposed when Martha called. Kate shouldn't have won the poker game. Castle had thrown his hand. Kate didn't know whether to be angry or touched. Angry was safer. She'd had plans for that money, especially after Lanie's disapproval of her wardrobe, but she would jam it back in his face and demand a rematch.

One more insult. It looked like Castle was right about Allison coming to the city for an assignation. Emails showed up from a Lee Wax, a true crime writer. Did crime writers have to be underhanded jerks?

At least Castle agreed to another game. Only this time it wouldn't be with Martha and the boys. He outlined his Gotham crew as Montgomery, the mayor and Judge Markway. Those were the last people Kate wanted to get on the wrong side of, but she couldn't back down. She accepted the challenge. This time she was going to kick Castle's ass for real.

* * *

Pictures covered the wall of Lee Wax's apartment like a shrine to Allison Goldman. It was prototypical for a killer, although she'd jumped to the same conclusion about Kyle in her first case with Castle and suffered the humiliation when he proved her wrong. She was wrong again - twice. Not only was Lee Wax a woman, one too pretty for comfort around Castle, but she hadn't been worshipping Allison Goldman, she'd been writing about her.

Castle's annoyingly sharp eyes unearthed the FBI flyer that revealed both why Allison had been living under an assumed identity and why a book about her would make sense. She had been a fugitive eco-terrorist for 20 years.

* * *

Castle and Lee Wax were understanding each other way too well, as Lee gave Cynthia Dern's version of the story of the night she'd been part of a triad that had blown up a boat, severely injuring the captain, Sam Pike. Kate expected Castle to make some quip about the Captain Pike on Star Trek who'd ended up in a similar condition, but he was too immersed either in the story or in Lee, to either realize the reference or bring it up if he had.

She expected an argument when she demanded Wax's manuscript and notes, but she didn't get one. Lee immediately passed them across the table but asked if she could be kept in the loop, for her book. The way that Castle was looking at the blue-eyed writer, there was no way Kate would allow that. She enjoyed turning the object of Castle's attentions down cold.

If Lee Wax didn't kill Cynthia, who did? Who would hold a grudge for 20 years? People whose lives she ruined: the Pikes.

* * *

Castle surprised her after their interview with the unfortunate family. He didn't want the son, Adam Pike to be the killer. It would have made a great story, but Castle wanted a happier ending for Adam and his parents. Just when she'd again consigned him to immature jerkdom, he had to say something sweet.

* * *

Jared Swanstrom was the only possible grudge holder left. Cynthia had tipped the cops and sent him to prison. But he was as much of a surprise as Castle. More maybe, he was a man willing to take responsibility for what he'd done, even if it had meant sitting in a cell.

* * *

Adam Pike really looked guilty, but Castle wouldn't accept that. He slipped back to a 9-year-old banging on the glass and shouting, "Lee Wax." As pissed as she was at him for acting like an idiot, better he think of Lee as a murderer than someone he wanted in his bed.

The money sent to the Pikes was the mystery. It had to have come from Cynthia. Jared had been in prison and the third conspirator: Susan Mailer, was dead. Or was she? Castle was claiming to be untruthful. If anything found him to be uncomfortably forthcoming about things she'd rather not know, but he was right. If he wrote a memoir, he'd make himself look good. If Cynthia had sent the money, she would have told Lee Wax to put it in the book.

* * *

Kate gazed around the table. She was far from intimidated by Castle's poker buddies. Montgomery, the mayor, and the judge wanted nothing more than to see her make Castle cry. She could do it, too. She had the cards. He begged her to beat his pants off. What was his thing with spanking? Some long-held guilt? But when he had the winning hand, he hadn't embarrassed her in front of her friends. She couldn't do it to him either. She folded.

* * *

Castle wanted to chase a ghost, but ghosts don't send money orders from Pennsylvania. Susan Mailer was calling herself Mary Wright. Maybe that was her way of saying she was trying to make things right, by sending the money to the Pikes. She was scarred, inside and out. Kate had nothing but sympathy for her, even if she had killed Cynthia, Cynthia intended to do the same to her. She hoped a jury would feel the same.

Castle knew. She didn't know how, but he knew she'd let him win the poker game. They would play again this time, just the two of them. It would be for gummy bears, but for a weak moment, she wished the game could be strip. The thought of being skin to skin with Castle was terrifying but oh God, she wanted it.


	8. Chapter 8

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 8

How does Castle know what to bring her? The perfect latte and a bear claw. But she is too pissed about the cover art for Heat Wave to be grateful. Naked! A strategically placed gun doesn't change a thing. She is still laid bare. And he teases her for going on his website to see the image. That strikes too close to home.

It isn't always smart to eat before looking at a dead body anyway, but she hopes, in this case, there won't be one. It's a kidnapping - of a little girl. For some reason, the FBI had asked for her. She has no idea why.

Now she knows. The meeting with Will Sorenson is awkward. She hadn't really missed him after he'd left for Boston. The case they'd worked on together had torn at her soul. He not only represented a broken relationship but a reminder of their failure.

Will doesn't seem to have a problem with her presence. He welcomes it. He says he's OK with Castle being there too. But there is a hardening in his eyes. She doesn't believe him.

* * *

She has rarely seen Castle that furious. She doesn't think much of the Candela's leaving a toddler to fend for herself while her mother slept, and her father retreated to his studio. But she doesn't take it personally. She has seen people do things that were so much worse.

Maybe it's the father in Castle. The man who took Alexis to the park every day and called her just to hear her voice would have a hard time understanding the carelessness of the Candelas, not just in leaving their daughter, Angela, unwatched, but in failing to secure a ground floor window. It is evident that it wasn't due to a shortage of funds. Alfred and Theresa are too busy blaming each other, to take any responsibility for their daughter's abduction.

Last time around, Kate had blamed Will. Maybe that was why she couldn't follow him to Boston - or anywhere. He was promising that they'd find Angela in time. She knows the statistics. He can't guarantee that. No one can.

* * *

Castle doesn't ask - at least not out loud, but she has to tell him anyway. She and Will had dated for six months. She says that she and Will got the guy the last kidnapping. She can't bear to admit that it had been too late.

* * *

Damn Will! He is spouting platitudes to the Candelas. Hope. Faith. Being strong. How the hell does he have the nerve to say that when he knows what can happen as well as she does? He's handling them. Handling was what he'd always done with fearful parents and with her.

* * *

Will and Castle are having a face to face, and it doesn't look friendly. Jealousy? Over her? It isn't the time. Not when Angela's life is at stake.

* * *

Castle is wondering about the family. He's not only angry about the way the Candelas neglected their daughter. He is suspicious. Why had Theresa set up a pension for Alfred? Not many painters, especially the ones of the limited talent he showed, would have one. Kate has a feeling Castle is right. The pieces just don't fit.

Theresa doesn't like the idea, but Alfred thinks a man she fired, Doug Ehlers, might be responsible for the kidnapping. Kate wants Castle with them when they question Ehlers. Much as she hates to admit it to Will, Castle is good in interrogations. Will refuses.

* * *

Both men are acting like boys on the playground. Castle doesn't think Ehlers did it. Neither does she. But Will is insisting.

Fed up with the macho dominance games, she suggests they should just drop their pants. Castle immediately admits to being game. Will won't. Of course, he won't. He's not only 2 inches shorter than Castle in height, but she remembers that he wasn't at the top of the curve elsewhere. He hadn't been bad, but his endowments weren't worth following him to Boston either. Maybe he suspects Castle could beat him in that department - by a lot. She resists the impulse to fan herself. Her flush isn't just from exasperation.

* * *

Will tries to joke with her when she breaks the news that Ehlers has an alibi. But she tells him he sounds like Castle. She can't admit that she likes Castle. She does assure Will that she isn't with the writer, pushing away any thoughts that she sometimes wishes that she were.

He says he meant to call. Well, he intended to do a lot of things. He made a choice that didn't include her. He'll have to live with that. She's living with it fine. She realizes she doesn't love him. She never did. Why the hell was she letting him kiss her?

Oh, God! Castle. He jokes about what she and Will were doing and insists he doesn't judge. Somehow that just makes it worse.

* * *

Ruthie, Angela's birth mother swears that she has nothing to do with her kidnapping. The evidence backs her up. But the birth father is another question. He didn't do it either. But he phonied up paperwork to make sure that Angela was all right. Castle seems sympathetic to that.

* * *

She tells Theresa that she can't give into her fear, trying desperately to take her own advice. Castle looks as scared as the parents. From the relief on his face when he hears Angela's voice, the missing girl might as well have been Alexis.

* * *

Will doesn't like it, but Castle is right. She knows how good he is under pressure. He'd saved them both with a Champagne cork. Straight-laced Will would never have thought of doing anything like that. If Will makes the drop, the kidnappers will know he's a cop. Everything about him from his square jaw to the regulation suit, screams it. She isn't going to let Will lose another child.

Castle is playing the baby about the cold hands of the agent - the female agent - putting the wire under his shirt. Kate isn't fooled. She knows how seriously he takes his mission. She pretends she needs to explain to him about Will, in case he wants to put it in his book. She can't admit to Castle that she's worried about him.

* * *

Will is trying to play up to her while they wait in the car. He remembers what she told him about how much of a fan she is of Castle. Why does he have to remember that? He insists he remembers everything about the time they were together. Should she believe him?

* * *

The kidnappers were ahead of the game all the way. They planned the backpacks and everything else. Her team took down the wrong guy while the kidnappers got away clean. Castle is feeling guilty. He had no reason to. He put himself on the line and her team dropped the ball.

If anything, Castle made the only smart move, slipping the phone in the backpack so it could be tracked. Even Will has to see how brilliant Castle is in a pinch. But the signal is lost. They are nowhere again.

* * *

What the hell is Castle doing crawling around on the floor of Angela Candela's room? A bunny? Like Alexis' Bunky Monkey? He could be right, and they don't have anything else.

* * *

She isn't big on holding kids, but she is relieved to have Angela in her arms. Alfred is overjoyed to see his daughter. Theresa is not. She'd planned the whole thing to keep her assets away from Alfred. How could a woman hate her husband that much? Maybe there is a reason Kate hasn't found a man she wants to spend her life with. But what if the child she'd held was hers and Castle's? How could she have ever have let her go?

Castle would have never left Alexis the way Alfred left Angela. Alfred hadn't even thought of the bunny. Neither could she - or Will - have.

* * *

Will wants to give it another shot. He wants her to think about it. She doesn't want to. Castle claimed that she and Will are too much alike. Are they? She didn't like to think so, but he could be right.

* * *

Castle wants to go out for a drink. Maybe she needs someone who can think about little girls needing their bunnies. But she can't deal with that now. She tells him she has a date. It's not quite a lie. She has an overpowering need to reread Storm Fall.


	9. Chapter 9

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 9

Castle wants her to run a background check on Owen, the boy who wants to take Alexis to the prom. It's ridiculous, the kid is only 15 and Alexis can take care of herself. Still, Castle is the ever-protective – make that overprotective father. She keeps trying to convince herself about how self-centered he is, and he keeps proving her wrong.

The victim is in the car. No one had noticed it there, even as the vehicle was towed to impound. Typical New York. Sometimes minding your own business can be pushed too far. He has a plastic bag duct-taped over his head. He should have been able to pull it off, but Lanie says that his fingers were broken, and his nails pulled out. He was tortured, but why? He's a plastic surgeon, Joshua Leeds. Would some crazy have done it over what Castle crassly refers to as a boob job? Hard to believe that, but then psychotic behavior is bewildering.

* * *

She tries to be sympathetic but straightforward talking to Leeds' fiancée, Courtney Morantz. Castle has none of his usual quips. His voice is low, even comforting. Courtney Morantz is pretty, but he is showing no reaction to her appearance, just nodding as Courtney says that she and Leeds were supposed to be looking at cakes. Had Castle done that with Meredith or with Gina? That's an image she doesn't need nagging at her mind. Morantz offers no insight, and the boys get nothing on their canvass.

Castle is being silly about Leeds having a secret life stealing organs. She'd be annoyed, except that it breaks her tension. But it returns with the force of a sledgehammer. He asks about reopening her mother's murder. Her chest tightens. She can't go back. She can't fall down the rabbit hole again. But had she left it behind? Every homicide reminds her. Every cold case screams for justice. Maybe? No. She must let it go. If she and Castle open the wound again and can't close it, the pain will be too much to bear.

Castle is staring at breasts or more likely breast implants. Infantile. But should she be bigger? Her slim figure worked to her advantage when she modeled, but Lanie looks great, and her breasts often draw Castle's eyes. Plastic surgery is supposed to be all about self-image, changing your life by seeing yourself a new way. How does she see herself? A good, maybe a great cop, but what else?

* * *

Jacey Goldberg is the argument against the scalpel. Her obsession has made her grotesque. Like a horrible accident, it's hard to look away. And Castle is acting juvenile again, making fun of the travesty the woman has made of her face. Jacey is just crazy enough to murder her surgeon, especially since he'd gotten her committed. But she has an alibi. Vaginal surgery. Could even a sane woman be that desperate? Apparently so. Kate shuddered at the vision of such an intimate invasion.

What surgery had Joshua Leeds performed in a covert nine-hour operation? When the boys can't get anything out of the hospital, Castle suggests talking to billing. He insists they never let anything fall through the cracks. Someone had to pay for the operation. Someone always does. For Castle, it's an uncharacteristically cynical view. Could the case be getting to him, or is something else on his mind?

Maybe he's worried about Alexis. She asks about the prom dress. That brings a glow to Castle's face. She can tell he's picturing his daughter looking beautiful. But now he wants to torture the boyfriend. What? She had no idea fathers did that. She has a problem picturing Jim Beckett being that unkind, but then, one of her dates had looked scared to death. She always thought he was nervous about dating her - but maybe not. To her father, she is still Katie, his little girl. She wonders what Castle is planning. No doubt something macabre.

* * *

Castle was right about asking billing. Leeds' work was paid for by the U.S. Attorney's office. It must have been for someone in witness protection. To find out who, she would have to tackle the unyielding Candace Robinson, unaffectionately known as "Hard Candy."

* * *

It's impossible to soften "Hard Candy" up, but Castle has another idea, maybe even more off the wall than usual. He wants to talk to a capo he knows. He knows a guy in organized crime? It seems like he knows a guy everywhere. It's a terrible idea, but she doesn't have a better one.

* * *

Castle's underworld friend told him about Jimmy "The Rat" Moran and that the Spillanos were after him. But knowing that doesn't bring them any closer to finding Leeds' killer. They need to get their information from the rat's mouth. For that, she needs a too familiar mouth. She approaches Will Sorenson with doughnuts with sprinkles, and lies, telling him she doesn't eat them herself anymore. She doesn't know why she lies. Maybe she's trying to keep him at arm's length, even as she asks for his help. He's hesitant, but she uses guilt over putting Leeds in harm's way to twist his arm. It's underhanded, but she can't see another way.

* * *

Castle is answering the phone as Chris Walken. She tells him that his impression needs work, but she's lying now too. He sounds Walken creepy. Castle points out that a parking garage is a cliché. She knows he's right, as he is about a black Suburban with tinted windows.

The FBI isn't exactly creative. Will hasn't changed what he's calling Castle. He's still with monkey. It's uncalled for, considering that Castle is the one who figured "Jimmy the Rat's" involvement. The description of the killer's MO is scaring Jimmy out of his mind. The meeting is a disaster.

* * *

Oh, God! Will and Moran have been shot! Castle tries to convince her that it's not her fault, but she doesn't. If she were a better cop, she would have realized they'd been followed, and Will wouldn't have a bullet in him.

Castle tries to comfort her. He calls her extraordinary. She doesn't feel extraordinary, just incompetent. Ryan says that Will is going to be all right. She's relieved but no less guilty. Will is lying in a hospital bed with a tube in his throat.

* * *

The sun isn't up yet, but she's at the precinct. She's sure she missed something somewhere, somehow. The double espressos only make her more desperate.

Castle tries to joke her out of her funk. Thinking about who had access to Leeds works better. The only suspects left are his staff. Or his former staff. They're shutting down. Without Leeds, there is no office to run. Mario had spent Friday night packing up files. Who does that?

* * *

It isn't Mario! It's Maggie! But Castle, the little boy again; he has to get in a last lick, telling Mario not to leave town.

* * *

The trap is set. Maggie falls into it. Moran is OK, but there is still Will to worry about, even if he is going to recover.

* * *

Maggie is going to turn state's evidence which calms the wrath of the U.S. Attorney. Montgomery is all smiles as he congratulates her. She finds the words spilling out of her mouth as the realization hits. She couldn't have done it without Castle. Maybe having him as her shadow isn't so bad.

She's beginning to get annoyed as Will still calls Castle a monkey and she is happy to leave the FBI agent eating his doughnuts when Castle asks to have a word with her.

Why is he asking her to sit down? His soft words slash like a sword. "It's about your mother's murder." He'd betrayed her!

What could she do now? Did she really want to let Castle go? She won't know until the pain subsides.


	10. Chapter 10

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 10

What is Castle doing at the precinct? A photo layout with stripper cops? The gushing interviewer from the magazine is asking her about working with Castle. She is resisting the urge to tell her what a selfish, infantile brat he is - just resisting. And being asked how Castle helped on some of her toughest cases? That's too much.

Montgomery is no help, reminding her that Castle did just that. He orders her to cooperate. The brass at 1PP wants the good PR. Damn, he always takes Castle's side. If he didn't, she never would have worked with the writer in the first place. And the boys are loving the circus that's going on too, especially the scantily dressed models.

Castle isn't smiling. He tries to explain that he had nothing to do with the shoot. She assures him that she doesn't care. She's past it. She's past nothing! She trusted him, and he went behind her back. How can she deal with that or him?

* * *

She just wants to get on with the case, but Amy the reporter wants to go along. And of course, that means Castle will be there too. He seems desperate to make it up to her, like a little boy bringing his teacher an apple. Except that he offers to buy her a pony. A pony? Is he kidding?

At least Lanie is standing up for her. The way she's staring down a Castle should be making the flesh on his face wither. But he is busily making himself out as a crime scene authority to Amy. And worse, he's right. He even realizes that it isn't suicide, at the same time she does. Are their minds still in sync? She can't handle thinking about that.

She can send him off to the morgue with Lanie, who won't cut him any slack. The reporter can go too. At least she's rid of both of them.

* * *

The M.E. van was attacked, and the body was stolen? Castle is spouting stupid spy theories. Nothing has changed about that. Ryan and Esposito sent shaken-up Amy home. She tries to send Castle home too after Lanie declares him all right. He pleads that he should stay as a witness.

She decides to let him stay, but it may be a way to get rid of him for good. She makes him promise that when they finish the case, he'll be gone. He insists he'll make her change her mind about wanting him to go. Will she?

* * *

Castle is upsetting Sandy Allen, the victim, John Allen's, widow. He's implying the man might have been cheating. Damn him! But he does ask about the late-night phone calls. That gives her Max Haverstock. She hates to admit it, but Castle is being helpful. And the really awkward part is telling Sandy that her husband's body is missing.

Castle is staring at her in the elevator. She glares at him, and he slinks back against the wall. But he was thrown around in the van. Alexis and Martha have a right to know he's all right. She calls them, as soon as she's out of his view.

* * *

Mild, balding, bespectacled Max Haverstock doesn't look like a killer. Castle observes that he couldn't throw a body off a building. She suspects he's right. But killers often don't look like killers. Max Haverstock has no motive. John Allen didn't fire him. John Allen was downsized too. He'd been lying to his wife ever since. Allen wasn't the dutiful husband and father leaving for work each day and flying off on business. Whatever he had been doing had gotten him killed.

The body turns up, slashed open. Castle makes another stupid joke about someone hating the victim's guts, but Lanie says Allen was a drug mule. He's also been strangled, by someone with a strange pinky finger. It's not a great clue, but it's better than nothing.

* * *

She suggests that the inside of the glove of whoever cut open the body should be fingerprinted on the inside. As Lanie excises the print from the fingertip, Castle makes yet another dumb joke about Lanie being a mohel. Good for Lanie, threatening to practice on Castle. There is still someone she can count on.

* * *

The print belongs to a drug dealer. That couldn't be more obvious. They catch him and his whole gang in the act of cutting and packing. She has a pile of charges against the drug gang, and more on the way. She hates cutting a deal to get them to talk, but she needs something to lead her to pinky-man. It's no surprise that they confirm that John Allen owed money - lots of it. But Castle wants to know who vouched for Allen to get him in with the dealer.

* * *

It's another finance guy named Ron Bigby. The guy can't stop sniffing. No surprise there. A damn cokehead! But he is the first one they've talked to who knows what John Allen was doing. Triad run poker games? A tattooed Russian? How the hell is she going to track the killer down? Castle says he can do it. She hates it, but she believes him. The man always knows someone who knows someone.

* * *

She's worried about letting Castle go to the triad poker game. It's dangerous. Why does she care so much? He might as well have stuck a dagger in her soul. But the idea of anything happening to him would be another one. The button cam lets her team see and hear Castle, but he can't hear them. He's going to get himself into trouble. She can feel it.

The gaming hall is full of Tattooed Russians. Damn! Castle is playing, dropping $40,000 for chips as if it's nothing. There're going to take him for it. Fine. He deserves to lose it. But his narration of the crime is going to make the killer run - or just kill him too. Sh*t! He is going to get himself killed. She strips down as fast as she can, transforming from cop to trophy Russian girlfriend. The guards accept her offer of a possible bribe. Money or something more personal.

She flirts with the killer until she can get close enough to disarm him. Castle stares appreciatively at her metamorphosis. She shouldn't feel good about that, but she does. She covers by ordering him to call for backup.

* * *

Is Castle really talking about John Allen when he says that sometimes people do the wrong things for the right reason - love? Castle accuses her of being scared to pursue her mother's case. He wants to follow the leads he uncovered with her. He's not doing it because he cares about her. He's doing it because he's selfish, isn't he? She's too terrified and angry about what might happen if she gives in, to believe anything else. She has to send him away.

Her eyes can't move from his back as he walks off, shoulders slumping. Should she call him back? She can't. She can't justify giving him another chance either to herself or him.

But he comes back. He's not asking for another chance. He's just admitting his betrayal of her trust and apologizing. No excuses. He just thinks she has a right to know that he's sorry. The boy has given way to the man. She needed a reason to forgive him. Now she has one, but she can't tell him that. As he walks away again, she just calls after him that she'll see him tomorrow. She can breathe again.


	11. Chapter 11

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 11

The wind is picking up. There is a storm coming in. If she doesn't get blown loose, her fingers will eventually slip as the surface she clings to becomes slick with moisture. There is nowhere to hide. There will be no future; no Castle. There is nothing left but the past.

* * *

It's typical for a full moon. The monthly parade of characters is herded through the bullpen. Castle is grinning so widely that the popcorn almost falls out of his mouth. He's no doubt choosing what of the moonlight madness to use in his next book. Next book. How many of them will he be writing? There had never been enough for her. There still wouldn't be, even if he had to stay with her to write them. Or especially if he had to stay with her to write them? No. That's stupid.

The ringing of the phone is a welcome break in her train of thought. Castle is backsliding. Instead of looking at the body, he's tapping on the fish tank, spouting some sci-fi imagining about putting electrodes on the fish to get a fish eye view of the murder. She wishes she could. It would be a lot easier than the plodding path she has to follow with witnesses and timelines. But she's stuck with real police work.

* * *

When Castle finally looks at the body, he immediately notices the incorrect grammar in the words scrawled on the face. Of course, he would. He's a writer. But does he have to obsess over it? He reminds her of Mrs. Ossining, her seventh grade English Language Arts teacher. Even now, the thought of a red pencil is fearsome. That is just making Castle's rant more annoying.

What distracts him is even more maddening. She would rather he was staring at a misused word than at Lanie's boobs. What is it with that anyway? Should Martha have breastfed him? She drags her mind back to the victim, Ashley Cosway. She's a therapist. Did someone silence her to avoid a revelation of some secret? Don't therapists take an oath? Considering what she told hers after her mother's murder, she hopes so.

* * *

Castle is talking to the boys a lot. What's that about?

She calls Castle in on the interrogation of the friend Brandy Rossi, who'd had dinner with Ashley. Not just a friend, a lawyer! And Ashley talked to her about a restraining order. Castle looks too gleeful about that. Something is going on.

She has to talk to the husband. She always needs to talk to the spouse. Jason Cosway is sure that Ashley would never share any of her patients' confidences, not even with him. Kate's relief has nothing to do with the case.

Castle almost dances into her with coffee. Again, with the grin. What is he so excited about?

* * *

Castle closes the door when he's talking with the boys. They are up to something, something they don't want her to know about. Other cops are acting strange too. She'll figure out what they're hiding but figuring out who murdered Ashley Cosway is more important.

* * *

Castle is acting hyper, and not just because the suspect has a cleaver in his hand. He is pushing the questioning like he has a hot date. Does he? And Castle is too disappointed that Ross has an alibi and too excited when he questions Evan Hinkle.

* * *

Castle is really acting nuts, leaning over the suspect and barking questions like a character in a bad cop movie. He's disgusted all out of proportion that Evan has an alibi and starts correcting the unfortunate patient's grammar. But Castle is right about irony. At least now they know that Jason Cosway was less than forthcoming. The man had a screaming argument with his wife. The spouse as a murderer. It's a homicide cliché. People hurt the ones they love. Maybe because people they love can hurt them. Another reason not to ever let her feelings get the best of her.

* * *

So that's it! Whispering and taking money. Castle has corrupted the bullpen and turned it into a gambling den. And he has the gall to say he's taking orders for Girl Scout Cookies! She wishes he was. Right now, she could really use a box or five of Thin Mints.

Castle is trying to apologize, but Jason Cosway that scum, has an insurance policy on his wife. That is worth throwing a hundred dollars into the pot.

What the hell? The boys are watching a game. That's not just a game. It's Jason Cosway's alibi. Sh*t!

* * *

The boys are ahead. They have a clue about New York's Holy Grail, a rent-controlled apartment. Where is the hell Castle?

Lanie wants to talk to both teams. With Perlmutter? Saltwater? Both bodies were near salt- water? Castle's silliness about the fish tank is worth something now, even if he jumps to his clue about a clownfish because of a kid's movie. The killings are connected, and the connection is right in Ashley's office.

* * *

The salt water wasn't from the tank, but the whole team has a new target. It could just be a coincidence. Castle proclaims loud enough for half the city to hear him that there are no coincidences. Wesley Grovner is slimy, but with that tracker on his ankle, he couldn't kill anyone. Argh! Now Castle is claiming it's a coincidence.

* * *

They are at square one. No amount of staring at the murder board is changing that. They need a new start with fresh eyes. She tells the boys, "You take our murder, we'll take yours."

That's all Castle needs! Could it really be that simple? Could Jason Cosway have traded murders with Eric Marx?

* * *

The bet is back on! Whoever gets a confession first wins. No one said from whom. But she and Castle have Jason Cosway. He's the alpha. He's never going to break. She and Castle will need to work together to find another way. And for their plan to work, the boys can't be in on it.

Ryan and Esposito are full of it, claiming they won the bet. She and Castle got a confession. It doesn't matter that they got it from Eric Marx.

No way is she shaving her head. Parting with a hundred bucks would hurt enough, but not that. Then there are all the people in the bullpen who put money on her. No way is she going to fail in front of them. There has to be a way to settle this.

The way the sports metaphors were flying, it has to be about a game. Castle is a loss with most sports, but he can shoot! The boys have no idea what Castle showed her on the range. She isn't about to tell them.

Esposito loves the idea. She can already see the smirk on his face visualizing Castle bald and in a dress. Well, it would be a funny picture. But she's not about to lose her hair too.

They set up the targets. Esposito can't get his jaw off the ground when Castle puts all his bullets in the 10 ring, but he matches his performance. It's up to her and Ryan. And she is the better shot. She and Castle can afford to be gracious. They'll give up on the shaved heads. The boys won't have to wear dresses in the bullpen. But they're going to put them on in the locker room. And Castle has a top of the line video camera.

A/N How they settled the bet was never in canon. But I thought that Kate could use a fun memory. And I can see Kate and Rick enjoying the video together - with lots of popcorn.


	12. Chapter 12

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 12

So, Castle has to make a Prince Charming joke because the body is barefoot? He could have some respect for the victim. But he is right. The victim is tall, her hair is fried, and she is 10 pounds underweight. The clothes and her wristband indicate she is exactly what Castle said, a model who went to a club.

* * *

Teddy Farrow seems more concerned with launching his new line than with Jenna's death. That is the modeling world she remembers. That's what she hated about it. That's why she turned down the chance at a major cover and spread, to take another path. Small town girl Jenna McBoyd was over her head. Was that why she'd become paranoid? Was it drugs? She could easily see that happening. But how would that get her stabbed and left in a fountain? Was it some sort of symbol of washing away her sins? Teddy wants the dress back. That is crass even for the fashion meatgrinder.

The cute little model gazing adoringly at Castle must barely be old enough to drive. Rina. And she knows him? He's doing a lousy job of faking remembering her. She obviously knows that, but she gives him her number anyway. And even with the stupid two-inch lashes, she is pretty. He isn't really going to call her, is he? And how the hell did Amy get a copy of Heat Wave for the puff piece Castle is grinning over? She should have had one first. Castle should have given her one before anyone else saw it. After all, there wouldn't be a Nikki Heat if she hadn't put up with him.

Sierra Goodwin seems upset at the passing of her friend. But she is wearing the dress Jenna was supposed to model. And her makeup has not been compromised by grief. At least she knows about Jenna's husband, Travis.

* * *

Travis blames the parties, the life, for changing Jenna. But he seems surprised that Kate hasn't seen the harassment reports. Damn! She should have. The system at the N.Y.P.D. should be better than that.

Castle seems even more upset at the glitch than she is. She can understand that. In his shoes, she would wonder if the cops would have paid any more attention if Alexis had been stalked. Maybe. Alexis is the daughter of someone who is at least semi-famous and has money. But she isn't sure. She knows too well how justice can fail. Cops let Jenna down once. It isn't going to happen again.

* * *

As they go through the threatening letters to Jenna, Kate can't help flashing back to her first case with Castle when they went through his fan mail. Even now, she is stunned and frightened by his insight. But she still hopes their search will bring them closer to Jenna's killer.

* * *

Lanie puts the time of death between two and five in the morning. Jenna had not only been stabbed, but she'd also been slapped. Why? Castle thinks the weapon was shaped like the Washington Monument. It was glass, but otherwise, Lanie believes he's right. Jenna's blood alcohol is 0.02. Not enough to be close to drunk. Maybe one drink. But there are traces of a drug that doubles for speed. Could she have fallen into that trap?

* * *

The boys found evidence of a stalker on a roof near the McBoyd's apartment. Castle wonders why Jenna would have a stalker. She might be famous if she became the face of Teddy Farrow's fashions, but she wasn't famous yet.

Castle catches Kate going through the magazine article. It's just fluff. Castle is right; she didn't have to cross her arms, but he still shouldn't have given Amy the book without giving her a copy. Why can't she just tell Castle why she's upset? She doesn't know, but she got her revenge. She told the boys about Rina.

She can't believe Castle's reaction when they demand details about the model. They should evolve? She's someone's daughter: someone's babysitter? What? Is this the same guy who can't pry his eyes off a pair of double D's?

* * *

The apartment of the stalker, Will James, is confusing. There is no shrine to Jenna; no wall of pictures, just a single comp card.

Castle goes hard at James in interrogation. Maybe he is picturing him going after Alexis. But the stalker has an alibi for the murder.

* * *

Travis McBoyd is a mess. He says he doesn't understand and swears that Jenna didn't take drugs. Travis points the finger at Wyatt Monroe, the photographer for the Farrow line. Jenna claimed that Wyatt deliberately messed up her test shoot, trying to make her look bad.

* * *

Wyatt seems too casual about Jenna's death. But they have nothing concrete on him.

* * *

Sierra Goodwin didn't just get Jenna's dress, she got the job Jenna was supposed to have. She doesn't look unhappy about it either. Castle is going on about movie murders. Wait, Showgirls doesn't have a murder. Hell! He got her.

Rina was Alexis' babysitter? That explains a lot. Still, her Castle worship comes in handy. Sierra Goodwin was no friend to Jenna or anyone else. She slipped drugs in a model's drink? Things are starting to make sense now. People have killed for less than a flashy high paying job -much less.

The boys turn up at the shoot to give her Will James' stalker photos because they're sure she'd want them. Right. Uh huh. But they tease Kate about giving up the glamour life. Where's that coming from?

It is too much fun to explain to the boys about Rina being Alexis' babysitter, and how to big Rick, the model might as well be wearing a chastity belt. She isn't really sure they understand Castle's problem.

* * *

Will James confesses to taking the photos and writing the letters. Rina was right about Sierra. The jealous model hired him to scare Jenna. She drugged Jenna too.

* * *

Sierra says Jenna went to Wyatt Monroe's place. She thought Jenna was going to agree to sleep with the photographer to get good pictures. She thought Jenna might even enjoy it. Oh, God! Kate's glad she left modeling before being faced with a scumbag like Monroe.

* * *

Castle finds Jenna's shoes. And those awards look like - yeah, the Washington Monument. And the fountain where Jenna was found is the view from Monroe's window. But he swears he didn't do it. Jenna was recording him, trying to trap him. His innocence will be proved by the recording. But it's gone.

* * *

It isn't gone. Jenna bought a new phone, with a tracker. Wyatt may be a dirtbag, but he didn't kill her. Sh*t! It had to be the husband. He really seemed to love her.

* * *

She is sure her bluff will work. Travis tries to deny what he did, but he did love Jenna. He can't stand the thought of hearing himself kill her. Sometimes the line between love and madness is so thin. It is frightening how terribly thin it can be.

* * *

Teddy Farrow will be a strange instrument of justice for Sierra and Wyatt. They may not be going to jail, although they should, but their careers will be over. Poetic justice is not the same as the real thing, but it's better than no justice at all.

How did the boys find out she was a model? They called Jim Beckett? Maybe now would be a great time to have a talk with her father.

Kate's fingers slip another fraction of an inch. She'd been furious at her father for spilling her business to the boys, but in the face of never seeing him again, the insult seems trivial, like so many of the insults she exchanged with Castle. And there was the biggest insult she'd ever hurled at anyone. She threw Castle's love back in his face. If there were anything she could change, it would be that.


	13. Chapter 13

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 13

She wasn't about to tell Castle that there was no body, only a video killing. She wanted to see the look on his face when he found out. She expected him to be disappointed, but he was excited by the murder in the phony Arctic. As usual, the case reminds him of a movie, Capricorn One, except that NASA isn't involved, just a creative grifter calling himself Steven Fletcher.

Castle recognizes the architecture they see out the window in the video. She should have done that. But it means she can have the beat cops try to identify the building. Castle is still bubbling about the Arctic, wondering about pemmican. There isn't going to be any pemmican in a New York apartment. There won't be anything like what is in the phony arctic expedition brochure she finds in the classroom.

* * *

The vic, lying in the midst of his staged campsite, was shot in the face with a large caliber bullet. The killer was angry, trying to wipe away the man's identity. From the hidden passports the boys found, he had lots of identities to wipe. And from the appearance of things, Fletcher worked hard on his arctic explorer persona. There is a binder full of research, even a library book. There are also more of the promotional booklets like the one that had been in the classroom.

* * *

Castle is bugging her about whether she's read Heat Wave. Telling him she hasn't had time to get to it, is a great way to get his goat. She did get as far as the scene where Nikki kicks Jameson Rook in the jaw. She thought she should enjoy that part a little more, but she found herself wincing. Jameson is as dogged as Castle. She shouldn't like him, but she does. And at least she can put the book down when she wants to get rid of him. But she can't wait to get back to him. Castle knows she's pushing his buttons. That doesn't make her gambit any less successful – or satisfying.

* * *

Ryan seems to be inspired by Fletcher, faking back trouble so Esposito has to carry all the evidence. She's tempted to expose him, but it is too much fun to watch him pulling something over on his cocky partner. Castle sees the scam too but doesn't spill the beans. He's explaining about con psychology, the thrill of the deception. In her quip to Montgomery about Castle's experience with being a fraud, she wonders who the fraud really is. If anyone is being less than truthful - besides Ryan - it isn't Castle.

* * *

They have a suspect, one who is literally certifiable. OK, the case is over. Patty Shultz just confessed to killing Steven Fletcher. Wait! In her mind? With a belt sander? Stephen had made a genuine paranoid feel safe. She wishes someone could do that for her. But Castle does, doesn't he? She always feels safer when he has her back.

Castle is impressed by what a master storyteller Fletcher was. What? The man was a leech. And he found a really juicy victim to suck blood from. Making Elise Finnegan happy was part of the con. She's sure of it. A charming rogue could tell someone he loved them just to steal their money. Or maybe steal a lot more than money.

But it's time to pull a con on Castle. She tells him she has a date. But it's just what Castle had described Nikki Heat doing after a hard day. She has wine, rather than something stronger, but she lights her candles and slips into the cherry scented foam to lose herself with Nikki and Rook. She can surround her naked body with Castle, and he'll never have a clue.

* * *

Why the hell did Castle pull her out of her sparring session? She'd just been wrestling with Burke from robbery, right after he'd finished regaling her about the birthday party he and his wife were putting on for their 5-year-old twins. But Castle didn't need to know that. She creates a titillating sensual vision for him and watches him sweat. He's jealous! Good!

But something has sent Castle into overprotective father mode. He's wondering if Jerry Finnegan knew his daughter Elise was being conned and killed Fletcher because of it.

* * *

Jerry Finnegan does have a gun of the same caliber that killed Fletcher. It shows no signs of being fired, but she's going to have the lab test it anyway. She doubts they'll find anything. Finnegan doesn't look guilty. He just seems like a father who found out the truth, but still believed that a leopard could change its spots and make his daughter happy. Is that even possible?

Castle thinks so. He thinks Steven Fletcher was capable of love. He believes he showed it by answering all the letters of the school children, even though he already had the money. Regardless of whatever set him off about Jerry Finnegan, he's less cynical than she is. There's a comfort to that.

* * *

The teacher, Jim Wheeler, was in on the scam! Ripping off his own kids! That's even worse than Fletcher. But Wheeler knows something she and Castle had missed in the pictures from Jerry Finnegan's PI. Fletcher was working with Elise.

* * *

Elise thinks Fletcher was in the CIA. She's got to be kidding! It's just another con. But Castle isn't sure. He has a guy in the CIA? It's hard to believe.

* * *

Agent Gray is even harder to believe, He doesn't look like he could kill anyone with an AR-15, let alone an ice cream scoop. But he has a strange presence. A cop leaves the room on the agents order, with no hesitation. How did Gray do that? But she was still right. Castle hands her the dollar they'd bet when the little man confirms Steven Fletcher was no spy.

* * *

Alexis is furious. She can hear the teen taking her father apart. Castle background checked his daughters new, and from the sound of it, too attractive violin teacher. She can understand Alexis' anger, but after seeing Fletcher's skill at the deception of the most doubting marks, she can understand why Castle did it. It's kind of sweet, actually.

* * *

Elise doesn't seem to care that Fletcher wasn't in the CIA. She's hiding something. Fletcher is alive? What? So, who's the faceless corpse? Castle believes Fletcher's voice on the voicemail, and Lanie can't guarantee the identity of the body.

There's one constant - Elise. Everything is about Elise. What if she and her father are right and Fletcher really does love his fiancée. Elise will lead them to Fletcher.

* * *

But it isn't Fletcher. It's worse! Elise's glossy engagement album is a dead giveaway. It's the same kind of work as the booklet found in the classroom and Fletcher's apartment. Elise has been taken in by her best friend, Sue. And Sue is making it look like Steven is still alive to get Elise's money for herself. God! She's worse than Fletcher. There is no love there; no making children happy; only greed.

* * *

It takes a con to catch a con. The look on Castle's face when she and the bank manager exchange signals from the _Sting_ , after she'd made Castle, the boys, and even Montgomery think she hated con movies is priceless, even if she feels a little guilty for lying to him - again.

* * *

He's on to her! How dare he come in the ladies' room! He catches her reading his book. There's a love scene on page 105? Actually, it starts on page 104. And it's good. It's so good.

* * *

The ground tilts below her. It will be over soon. If only she'd grabbed her chance to live out the fantasy Castle had written for Nikki.


	14. Chapter 14

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 14

Castle is late. He's hardly ever late. Could he be sick or something? He looks fine when he arrives. Smug, actually. The boys can't resist razzing him with descriptions of the body found in the manhole as half-eaten and covered in green slime. She gets her own licks in with bio hazard canisters. But Castle's upbeat mood remains. What's he so happy about? Is there a new woman? Did he get laid? Why should she care, anyway? She has a case to solve.

* * *

The body had no I.D. There's no murder weapon; just a candy wrapper with lettering Castle identifies as Eastern European, maybe Czech. He jokes about having almost ordered a Russian bride. "A Czech mate?" That's awful. He's still insufferable.

* * *

Montgomery looks pleased with himself, too. Is Castle going to write another book? And she'll be expected to cooperate? Is that what Castle is so gleeful about?

* * *

Castle's like a little boy as they go from shop to shop trying to find a lollipop that will match the candy wrapper they found on the victim. Does he have to buy something everywhere they stop? The nesting dolls are kind of cute, although she doesn't see what they would have to do with a dimensional warp. They don't find the right store.

But the boys did: right where Castle told her they should look, and she ignored him. He's getting even smugger. Or maybe just nuts. He says the lollipop tastes like soap, but he likes it anyway. Ugh!

* * *

At least she knows who the victim is now, Eliška Sokol. She lived in one of the city's aging rent-by-the-week apartments. Kate can see that Eliška tried to make it her own. There are postcards up on the wall from Eastern Europe. But Castle notices something missing. A picture fell off the wall, a photograph of a woman and a little boy at a playground. The woman's face is scratched out. The act isn't as hostile as shooting her, but Eliška must have wanted that woman out of her life as much as Sue wanted to wipe away Steven Fletcher.

* * *

As far as Kate can tell, Eliška's record is clean. If she did go after the woman in the picture, it was never reported. She can't identify the mystery woman, but the parks department should be able to tell her where the picture was taken.

Castle shows up at the precinct, and he has an idea about the playground too. He's not usually that slow. She's already sent Ryan and Espo there to ask questions. Something really is on Castle's mind. Could it be the next book?

* * *

The boys have come through with the building where the woman in the picture lives. Fancy digs! 24-hour concierge service. Figures. The woman, Melissa Talbot, is the wife of an uptown surgeon, Cameron Talbot, complete with a pager on his belt. The boy is her son Zane. Eliška worked in the building. She paid too much attention to Zane. She gave him a lollipop. And Melissa never meant for it to happen, but Eliška got fired for it.

* * *

Eliška had been married to Teodore Hajek. Back to the spouse as a suspect, again - especially with the report of a domestic disturbance. Why do they always run?

But Teodore wasn't afraid of being arrested for murder, just for overstaying his visa. When she tells him Eliška is dead, she can see the sadness in his eyes. His pain is real. That poor family, to lose a son like that. He shows her a picture of his wife and son, now gone. No wonder the grieving Eliška was drawn to Zane. If there is anything Kate understands, it is loss. But Eliška was no criminal. There was no sign of drugs. Sex? She would have needed money after she was fired. Is that how she ended up in a sewer with the other refuse?

* * *

Castle hasn't said a word about the other book. She's angry enough about Eliška's death. He's just making her more pissed off.

A certain British secret agent. He's not writing another Nikki Heat. She should be relieved. She assures him she is, but the wrench in her gut says otherwise.

* * *

The sketch of the man seen near Eliška looks a lot like Cameron Talbot. And the pager the witness saw on his belt, clinches it. Yeah, there was sex. Talbot was having an affair with the vulnerable woman. Of course, Eliška was upset when she found out he was married. Old story. He conned her into thinking that he'd leave his wife that he and Eliška and Zane would be a family. No wonder she was paying so much attention to Zane. She thought he'd be her stepson, a replacement for the child she lost. And Talbot never intended to leave his wife, so he killed Eliška.

Wait a minute! His nurse confirms his alibi? That can't be! What now?

* * *

There was a complaint against Eliška? She was watching another little boy at another playground. Born on the same day? Castle twigs. Eliška's son, the boy at the other playground, and Zane were all born on the same day at the same hospital, the one where Talbot works, the one where Eliška had worked before finding a job in the Talbot's building.

* * *

Poor Melissa. To find out that way that her son, her biological son, was dead of Niemann-Pick syndrome, and that Cameron had killed Eliška to cover it up. As painful as her own loss was, Kate can't imagine enduring one like that. Who could imagine it - except Teodore Hajek?

She can see how nervous he is, even before he admits his hands are shaking. Melissa is nervous too. Kate can hear it in her voice. But Melissa and Teodore share a bond of love for the child running the toy along the rug. Zane's train is broken, and Melissa doesn't know what to do. But when Teodore fixes it for his son, Kate knows that wheels can be snapped back on. She and Castle silently agree to leave the new family to get to know each other.

This is it. Her last case with Castle. How can she say goodbye? She wants to throw her arms around him, feel his warmth seep into her body. Damn phones! Their sound is even harsher bouncing off the hard marble floors of the fancy building.

What? Castle is writing more Nikki Heats? How long is Castle going to be following her around? The captain can't say no to the mayor, and she can't say no to the captain. Her shadow is reattached as firmly as if Peter Pan's Wendy had sown it to her heels. Peter Pan wanted his shadow back. And damn, so does she.

She tries to act angry at Castle, even though she'd heard enough of his phone call with his agent to know he had nothing to do with calling the mayor. He's fumbling like a little boy trying to convince her. Can anyone be that adorable?

Another phone call? What now? Another murder. Castle isn't sure whether to follow her or not. She can't leave him behind. She's not sure if she could ever leave him behind.

* * *

Now she may be leaving behind everything she cared about, but all she wants, all she can think about is him.


	15. Chapter 15

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 15

The cemetery is creepy, but Castle seems to like it. He says he loves cemeteries because of the stories, pointing to a monument to an Elizabeth Dryden, with her lifespan ending in a question mark. He's right. There must be a story there somewhere, but it doesn't help them with the case.

Why is he wearing suspenders? Right, Halloween. She didn't see much of the character she thinks he's dressed as. She was too immersed in the Nebula Nine fandom to pay much attention to the Joss Whedon thing. Come to think of it, Castle might look a little bit like the captain on the series. But who goes to a crime scene in a Halloween costume? And he's talking about Lycans as murder suspects. The body dressed as a vampire with a stake in its heart must be making his theories even more off-the-wall than usual.

* * *

Now Castle is afraid to have Lanie pull the stake out of the body. Come on! The poor guy is dead, not undead. The black hair from a wig and the bite mark on his thigh are clues - if weird ones. And there are black smudges on the stake. They might mean something.

Lanie says the vampire fangs are professional veneers and Castle claims he knows the best fang master in town. Really? A fang master?

* * *

A dentist who hangs out in a costume shop is a new one on her. Castle holds up a hanger with the brief uniform of what he refers to as the "slutty nurse." What is it with Castle and sluttiness? First Nikki Heat, now this?

Dr. Barry Frank really does do teeth for vampires. He recognizes the victim as "Crow," but the young man does have a real name. While Frank is looking it up, Castle wonders if Kate would like to get something pierced. There were times in her wild girl stage when she thought about it, but she'd never admit that to Castle. No, he doesn't want a piercing either, at least not the one she implies.

* * *

Crow is Matthew Freeman, an artist, and a good one. She can't help tickling Castle about his love of comic books with a Frank Miller reference. Wow! Is that all it takes to turn him on? Not that it matters. Matthew was serious about his work, he went to the Barker School of Design. They should have more information about him.

The landlady is very New York. The fangs didn't bother her. She's seen a lot worse. She's not the only one. She does remember Matthew having a fight with a woman with long hair and fangs. Bingo, for a match with the evidence on the body.

* * *

Matthew's browser history gives the would-be Vampirella an identity as Vixen. As usual, Castle and the boys are staring at boobs. Wait! Ryan went out with a girl who was into the vampire lifestyle. She never would have guessed that. You really don't ever know a person, no matter how closely you work with them. But his fangy past gets them the password they need to find Vixen's coven.

* * *

Those creepy women won't stop staring hungrily at Castle. She would have thought he'd revel in it, but he looks uncomfortable. Ugh! Vixen is sucking blood. But she seems genuinely disturbed at Matthew's death. He was one of her lovers. They broke up because he was with a boyfriend, Daemon, who fell in love with Matthew and his art. Could he be the killer? Or what about Morgan Lockerbie? According to Vixen, he believes he's really a vampire. Kate's seen people kill during psychotic breaks before.

* * *

Castle has an explanation for people like Vixen. They're responding to a trauma. He compares it to becoming a cop. What shock made him become a writer?

Kate has another trauma coming. She has to call Matthew Freeman's parents. Castle is being sweet again, offering to stay with her. She's tempted, but she doesn't want him to see her face when she breaks the news.

* * *

Alan Freeman's eyes are rimmed in red. Janice Freeman is sniffing and crying. And Matthew's sister Rosie is with them. Alan is blaming himself for not being tougher on Matthew, for not keeping him away from the vampire life. She feels for him. But nothing the family says helps with the investigation.

God! She's just been with a grieving family, and Esposito wants to talk about Castle's party. Why does he care what she's wearing? From his swagger, she's sure he's going as something macho. But why should she care? What does a party matter when someone is dead?

And Castle has his nose in the graphic novel. She'd be mad except that he found a clue. Morlock is Morgan Lockerbie. Castle's more interested in her scent. Cherries? She had no time for a bubble bath. It must be her shampoo. Did the boys have to catch Castle sniffing her? Do they really think something is going on between her and Castle? Just for a moment, maybe… Castle's spots something else in Matthew's work, a way to find Morgan Lockerbie.

* * *

The lair is creepy and very dark. There's a coffin. Lockerbie thinks he's a vampire. Could he be in there? Empty. Oh no! Lockerbie's jumping Castle - and biting him. The sunlight burns Lockerbie's face. Could he really be a vampire?

* * *

Castle seems relieved but disappointed at Lanie's explanation that Lockerbie has porphyria and Castle can't catch it from a bite. The disease is what drove Lockerbie crazy. The man does have a history of psychiatric illness. Why didn't anyone catch it and help him before he killed someone? Another failure of the system.

Morgan is ranting about a heartless bitch with spots all over killing the crow. Somewhere in there, something must make sense. Maybe a psychiatrist can help her figure it out. She'll have one coming. Maybe he can look at Matthew's drawings too.

Castle thinks there is a clue in the India Ink that made the smudges on the stake that killed Matthew. It is used for lettering comic books. Could Matthew's friend Daemon have been the letterer? Could he have murdered Crow? They were lovers in a way. But isn't the lover or the spouse always the first suspect?

Doctor Holloway says that there are times when someone like Morgan Lockerbie can be lucid. His rants might mean something. He also thinks Matthew's drawings might indicate a childhood trauma. Castle was right! Could that be relevant to the murder somehow?

Castle is egg sitting for Alexis. Even in the middle of his fascination with the paranormal case, he is the nurturing father. Why does she have to keep being reminded how sweet he can be?

* * *

Daemon is a werewolf, one more piece of craziness to add to the case. At least his fur is attached with spirit gum, not implanted. But he died before Matthew. He couldn't have killed him. Lockerbie couldn't have done it either. The poor man was probably just trying to help his friend.

The papers Lanie spots under the drawing table are more important than Daemon, aka Jonas Westfall, could have known when he hid them. The case he was investigating as a student of forensic anthropology involved the woman Matthew had drawn. Matthew knew the woman before she died. But how could he? He was 2 years old at the time.

* * *

Castle had the final clue all along when he spoke of stories in the graveyard. Elizabeth Dryden was Matthew's mother. As a toddler, he had seen her murder. The memory had made him what he was and gotten him killed. Murders will change the lives of the survivors. She knows that all too well.

* * *

Castle finds the answer again. Putting together Janice Freeman's leopard coat with the spots in Morgan's rantings. Morgan finally can help his friend by exposing the murderer.

But he still hasn't told her about his childhood trauma. She urges the story out of him. A poor dead boy on a beach is heartbreaking - and a lie. She's going to get him for this.

* * *

The racks at the costume store are almost empty, but what she finds is perfect for her plan. She just has to pull it off the right way at the right moment.

* * *

She can almost see Castle's mouth watering as she tells him she was going for sexy, before opening her coat. Good, he's scared. At least she scored the win this time. Except that he says he's giving her the bird. And she never did get his real story. What was it that made him do what he did to keep her safe?

* * *

Now she would never know.


	16. Chapter 16

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 16

Hanging.

* * *

The body is hanging upside down from a fire escape in Chelsea. She has a big smile on her face in bright lipstick, but it is anything but a happy scene. Castle knows who the victim is because Alexis is a fan of Hayley Blue, lead singer of Blue Pill. She's reminded again what an attentive father Castle is and how it wars with the image she painted for herself of the selfish man-child.

Perlmutter says that Hayley Blue was killed elsewhere. The body was transported and staged. Hardly a crime of passion and not an accident or a suicide. The killer even has one of Hayley's songs playing.

* * *

A frantic Alexis is waiting at the precinct. Good thing too. She is a fountain of information on Hayley Blue. The singer was on drugs and went to rehab. No news flash there, it almost seems like a rite of passage. But there's more. Hayley was being pursued by an obsessed fan. Alexis points to the "Fifty feet or more" in "Here Kitty, Kitty," the song that was playing at the crime scene. There was a restraining order! The information about the fan will be a matter of record.

Despite the teen's protests, Castle makes Alexis go to school. Wow, it's just what her own father would have done if she'd tried to skip class. Not that many kids cut at Stuyvesant. The workload was heavy, and they wouldn't have been there if they hadn't been serious about shouldering it.

Still, seeing Castle in responsibility mode is downright sexy. The trouble is that he knows it. Yeah, she does want him, but she's not about to admit it.

* * *

Do all record producers pay for their stars to go to rehab? You would think most of them could afford it themselves. But then a needle in your arm can drain your resources pretty fast. Ian and Bree Busch had done a lot more than send Hayley to rehab. They'd taken her in; served as surrogate parents. But she left them. Did she relapse? Why would she do that? She has a sister Sky who was on drugs too, and Hayley desperately wanted to save her. Maybe it wasn't enough.

* * *

Franco Marquez, Hayley's stalker is trying to get away on a bus. Not on her watch! With his stringy streaked hair, the fan looks as pitiful as he does creepy.

* * *

But he claims he didn't kill Hayley and that she knew she was going to die when she wrote her final song, "Threshold." "Death she comes near," sure sounds like Franco is right. And Franco cops to violating the restraining order. He claims he saw Hayley having an argument with Zach Metzger, a member of Blue Pill. And Zach threatened to kill her.

* * *

Kate can smell Zach Metzger before she sees him. The dissipated musician doesn't look strong enough to strangle anyone, but the tracks on his arm are clear evidence of drug use. When a person is hopped up, anything is possible. Zach claims he didn't do it and seems to have an alibi. Blue Pill has fallen on Hard times. Hayley owns the name and won't let them use it. The band was playing a gig at a sweet-sixteen party. Castle encourages the grimy band member to bathe. As a cop, she wouldn't have said it, but she's glad Castle did.

* * *

Perlmutter is calling for security, but Kate can handle things. Sky Blue has a knife. She also has a bottle. But she isn't a threat. She hands over the knife but confesses that she thinks she killed her sister. She told Hayley to drop dead, and she did. Kate wishes it were that easy. If wishing could make things happen, her mother's killer would be in the ground or behind bars. And the way drugs and alcohol have ravaged her body, Sky looks even less capable of killing anyone than Zach appeared to be.

Kate can understand why Sky would be upset. Hayley had told Sky to get clean but had handed a wad of cash to Tony, her dealer. Maybe Hayley had relapsed.

* * *

But Hayley was clean and sober. She wasn't high, she was scared. She gave Tony the money, but not for drugs, for a gun. And she fired it. There was gunshot residue on her hands. She'd tried to defend herself. Against whom?

* * *

John McGinnis, manager of Blue Pill, could stand to profit big time from Hayley's death. Sociopathic jerk! He got Hayley hooked in the first place. But she wanted to walk away and take the band name with her. It's Sky's now. McGinnis gets her, he makes money. He makes more because Hayley is dead.

God, she wishes she could kick John McGinnis' smirking face in. He was out of town when Hayley was killed. But he could have had someone do it. Zach? Maybe his alibi is softer than it seems.

* * *

McGinnis called Zach all right. He wanted him to use dope to get to Hayley. But it didn't work. Of course, Zach had lied. Scum like him always lie. He saw Hayley the night she was killed. He says her phone rang and the ID was "Death." Hayley wasn't even supposed to have a phone. She must have gotten a pay as you go and lied to her provider. Part of hiding from whoever "Death" was. Was it the "Death" in the song she'd written the week before?

Castle urges Kate to think about the interpretation of "Death." In the song, it's a woman. But could the word mean change as it does in tarot? Was Hayley talking about the woman who changed her, Bree Busch?

* * *

The sobs echo against the hard wall of the dingy structure. It's Sky. Kate needs to tell her that Hayley was strong. Hayley was clean. Castle's heart is going out to the girl. He wants to do something for her, maybe send her to rehab. But Kate knows from her father, they can't help Sky unless she is ready to be helped.

* * *

Bree bought the same lipstick that had been used to draw the obscene smile on Hayley.

* * *

Bree has her own story. She would lose her studio if Hayley didn't finish her record. She offered her dope. Hayley showed her the gun and said she'd rather put a bullet in her head than take drugs.

What is Castle doing with the baffles on the wall? A bullet hole? Hayley must have fired the gun. That makes sense with the GSR. Ian begs his wife to confess. If she pleads self-defense, she might even get off or at least get a much shorter sentence. But the woman refuses. Why?

* * *

Castle still can't stop thinking about Sky out there alone. She can see the pain he's feeling. He keeps reminding her that he's not the self-absorbed clown she tries to cast him as. She isn't going to let him go after a drug addict alone.

* * *

Sky didn't take anything. Somehow Hayley is still watching out for her sister. Castle was right to come after the girl. Maybe she can be helped now.

* * *

Castle is insisting they have the wrong killer - again. The trouble is he's always been right before. He makes her listen to the words of the song. "I can explain if you're listening. Locked up in silence. Living hell. His darkness weighs on me at night. I never asked or wanted to. You stepped across my threshold; how could you?" Oh, God! Was Hayley raped by Ian Busch? Was that why she left? Was that why she needed a gun?

Kate can see how it hits Castle in the gut. Hayley was betrayed by a father figure - who claimed Hayley seduced him. She can see the rage in Castle's face. It is as if Ian had done it to Alexis.

She asks Castle what he's going to tell Alexis. The truth. He always tells his daughter the truth.

* * *

They're holding candles and swaying while Sky fulfills her sister's legacy. Castle is next to Kate. So close. But it is Alexis who has her head on Castle's shoulder.

* * *

If she had told Castle the truth, perhaps she could have been with him now with music and candles, instead of hanging there about to fall to her death.


	17. Chapter 17

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 17

Castle made it to the scene first. He sounds more like he's writing a chapter for one of his books than giving a report on the crime. Esposito is more succinct if less fun to listen to. Castle is still plotting. He points out how the plan was laid out to kill the messenger. Uh huh, he's right about that. But nuclear launch codes? That is over the top even for him.

* * *

She's rarely seen Montgomery this distracted. The precinct closure rate is too low? She, the boys, all the cops - even Castle - have been working their butts off. 1PP cuts the budget and then expects their closure rate to rise. They're crazy! Why is it when cops start playing politics their brains atrophy?

* * *

A terrorist? The courier company gets the name wrong, and they knock down the door of some sweet old lady. How many mistakes like that result in more than broken down doors? Maybe the brass at 1PP aren't the only ones who need to get their acts together. Sally Niedermeyer doesn't know what's in the package. It was meant for Captain Montgomery!

* * *

Roy arrested Sally's nephew Brady Thompson 10 years before. He'd even gotten a confession. Brady was shanked in prison the same day as he told his aunt to send out the package. That can't be a coincidence.

But there's no time to think about that. Kate has to talk to the dead messenger's sister, Sara Shimansky. It never gets easier. She can feel the grief, and it always brings back her own. Senseless killings always yield so much pain.

* * *

Brady knew he was going to die. His wife knew why. The order came from the same person who killed the messenger; the same person who'd been sending Brady's wife $7,000 a month for 10 years. Brady never murdered Olivia Debiasse. He'd taken the fall to pay for his son's treatment for a rare respiratory illness. That there was no other way to help for the child is criminal in itself. But the payments had stopped. Had the killer decided that murder was cheaper?

Brady's wife and son might need protection. She sets it up even before Montgomery mentions it. Montgomery is feeling guilty about arresting Brady. He was so sure, he hadn't even read some of the reports about the case. She can remember the times she had been so sure too. She might be going through what the captain was going through now if it wasn't for Castle. He saw past the rules and the procedures to the holes in a case.

* * *

Olivia was at a party – a very upscale party. She argued with someone. Who?

* * *

Perlmutter has something. Eww, he's eating in the morgue. Castle isn't the only one whose stomach is turning, but she can't let that show. The murder weapon in Olivia's case was all wrong. It wasn't a bat. But Perlmutter says he has to exhume the body to know what was used. This gets more nauseating by the second.

* * *

Olivia went to the party with trust-fund-baby Jeff Dilahunt, but she stayed after he left to go do drugs. The jerk is proud of being arrested. Only someone that spoiled could be proud of that. Dilahunt insists that he and Olivia were just friends. Can a man and a woman really be just friends? Kate tries to convince herself that she and Castle can be. But he thinks they'll be together someday. Could he be right?

But Dilahunt does have insight into the stratospheric society of the Wellesleys. The matriarch, Leanne Wellesley, rules. She even picks the ties. Orange. Ugly but useful. The stain from the wine the waitress said was spilled on the Wellesley arguing with Olivia, shows in the picture of the event.

* * *

Trent Wellesley is an upper-crust leech. She isn't the only one offended by his bewailing the lack of funds in his branch of the Wellesleys and complaining that he has to live off his relative's handouts. Good for Castle for suggesting the man might get a job.

Castle is rich, but at least he earned it. He really did, didn't he? He didn't grow up with money. If anything, she had a more comfortable childhood than he did. At least she had two parents, and they were both there for her. Castle spent a lot of time fending for himself. That doesn't usually make for a spoiled twerp.

Trent is a helpful twerp. He points them at Winston Wellesley who was going to mentor Olivia. Oh, is that what he called it?

* * *

Winston gives God as his alibi. With a Wellesley, it figures. There's even a brother, Blake, trying to run a second time for a Senate seat. Who do they think they are, the Kennedys? Castle is sure Winston killed Olivia.

* * *

Olivia was no shallow social climber. She quit school to take care of her mother, Edna, who was dying. That seems to get to Castle. Wait! Edna's funeral was paid for by Winston Wellesley. Guilty conscience? For what?

* * *

Blake Wellesley is smooth. He wants to coordinate the interviews with his family and have them take place at his offices. The Wellesleys really think they can dictate the rules. Not to Captain Montgomery. Castle says Roy was awesome. Yeah, he was.

* * *

Olivia's casket is empty. What? Sometimes Castle's weird fascination with the gruesome and morbid comes in handy. He knows about the drawer in the lid. A picture of Edna Debiasse – with a campaign button for Casper Wellesley. How deep does the Wellesley connection go? Winston and Blake were both there for the campaign. Could Winston have slept with Edna? Could he have been Olivia's father, not her lover? Did he take Edna's body? Was he protecting the family honor? Then why pay for the funeral? Something is missing.

* * *

Winston admits to sleeping with Edna. Olivia's mother never told her who her father was, but matriarch, Leanne Wellesley did. Then what needed to be covered up?

* * *

Winston didn't kill Olivia. God didn't alibi him, but Stanley Jenkins did. It's unlikely Winston slept with Edna or any woman. But if Winston wasn't Olivia's father, it must have been senatorial candidate Blake. He was the only other Wellesley there for the campaign. Winston was protecting his brother, protecting the family.

* * *

Leanne was protecting the family too. She wanted Olivia to believe that Winston was her father, not just to ensure the future she saw for golden boy Blake, but to butch up Winston. Not exactly enlightened thinking, but then it seems like Leanne thinks mostly about her stolen ring. She obsesses about it.

Still, Leanne considered Olivia a problem, and she told someone to take care of it. So, there's a family fixer. The whole thing is beginning to sound a lot like the mafia.

* * *

The captain has a handle on it. The fixer was Leanne's forever solicitous Frank Davis. And the ring does matter. Frank Davis had access to funds to pay off Brady Thompson's family, and when he lost it, he stole the ring. But he needed a more permanent solution, so he had Brady killed.

* * *

Blake Wellesley isn't as bad a guy as she thought. She does tend to peg the wealthy as entitled brats. Hell, she did it to Castle. Blake is giving $20 million to a charity that has promised to provide care for Brady's son. There is no way that gift could replace a parent, but it is better than nothing.

How many others must die to protect the rich and the powerful? Is that why her mother died? Castle tried to warn her, and she was too stubborn to listen. Now, there's nothing more to hear.


	18. Chapter 18

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 18

Why does Castle want to know if I kept secrets from my dad? Could it be about… oh, Alexis. Does he really think it wouldn't be anything significant because he's the cool dad? He wouldn't be asking me if he wasn't afraid of something. But Alexis?

The guy smashed against the car is A.D.A. Buckley. There must be lots of people he sent away who would cheer his demise. But whoever did this was strong enough to throw him off a roof. That should limit the field a little.

Buckley should not have been in the garage. He didn't live nearby. Like many dyed-in-the-wool city dwellers, he took the subway; he didn't even own a car. But for this denizen of the Big Apple, the mayor is hot to find a solution. And when the mayor wants answers, so does the captain.

Castle thinks it's a _Cape Fear_ situation. He does a lousy De Niro, but he might have a point - more or less. De Niro was hunting a defense attorney who failed him, but Buckley pissed off a lot of criminals he put away, especially since unlike most prosecutors, he didn't go for the deal. That would make for a big pool of suspects, but at least they'd all be in his files.

* * *

That intern is way too pretty. Kate can't think about that right now. She needs to know which of the myriad bad guys could have killed Buckley. So, a John Knox had a screaming argument with him. Knox is as good a lead as any.

* * *

Knox looks at Castle like he's from another planet when he asks if the smug jerk works out. Sometimes she wonders about Castle herself. If Knox has muscle, it's not that obvious. But then things often aren't.

An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting as an alibi? Really? Isn't anonymity the point? She doesn't think her father would go if it weren't. But with a sponsor like the Reverend Daniel Miller, she can check it.

* * *

Damn! The good pastor backs up Knox.

Buckley was being followed, by a Norman Jessup. Castle recognizes him from what he proudly calls his _Cape Fear_ file. Does Castle have to do De Niro again?

* * *

It might have helped Castle to be the _Raging Bull_ in the bar fight. Jessup clocked him hard. That has to hurt. She doesn't want to look soft in front of Jessup. She wishes she could at least ask the bartender for some ice, but she needs to bring Jessup in. At the least, she has a charge against him for assaulting Castle.

* * *

Castle has his own ice pack pressed against the side of his face, but it doesn't keep him from questioning Jessup. He isn't even complaining. She's seen cops whine about a lot less. Jessup is well-spoken for a con -if not as much of a wordsmith he thinks he is. He's useful too. He was following Buckley around trying to keep him from refiling his case and saw a man threaten him. Castle gleefully proclaims a road trip. He is cheerful for someone whose face will probably be black and blue in a couple of days.

* * *

Jessup may not be the world's best wordsmith, but he has the makings of a pretty good locksmith. He got his cuffs off. She hopes prison doesn't give master classes in that. Of course, Castle wants to learn how to do it. He would.

Why is Alexis calling her? She wants to meet and talk. The girl doesn't sound anxiety ridden. That probably lets out pregnancy or an STD, but Castle is so much fun to tease. She's not about to let him off the hook.

* * *

Paul Cho is Jack Buckley's ex-brother-in-law. That immediately gets Castle off _Cape Fear_ and onto _Family Feud_. But no one is jumping up and down, and there's no jovial host in sight. Castle warns Cho that Kate hates being lied to. God, she's the one who tells the lies, isn't she? Almost everything she says, everything she does, is a lie about how she feels about him.

Cho likes call girls. Castle points out that both the girls and their pimp, someone named Danton, know Cho's secret. He should call one, so they can question her. Castle would want her to wear something sexy. Kate can't help wondering what he means by that. Like the dress that he bought her for the gala? She did have to work really hard to find a place to stash her badge.

It's the intern - with a lot more makeup and a lot more flesh showing. She slept with Buckley? He was a customer. He saw a law book and wanted to help her get out of the life? Sounds like a plot for a Lifetime movie. So, Buckley liked prostitutes. Did Danton try to blackmail the A.D.A? Did he kill him?

* * *

Castle doesn't want to press charges against Jessup because he's a wordsmith? He might change his mind when the ibuprofen Ryan gave him wears off, but he won't sign the papers, so she makes the call to get Jessup processed out. It is kind of sweet. She almost feels guilty teasing him again when he wants to go with her to see Alexis. Almost.

* * *

Why didn't Alexis want to talk to her father about that? Either decision would work. But Kate remembers what it was like being Alexis' age. She comes down on the side of adventure. It could leave Castle at loose ends for a while, but there could be some advantages to that.

* * *

Buckley put Danton in prison? Then who's the guy blackmailing Cho? Danton is a franchise like Pirate Roberts? Why not? Almost everything else is. At least Remy's hamburgers are still one of a kind. And the shakes! Maybe she'll have time to get one while Danton is on his way down from Ossining.

* * *

So, Buckley gave Dan Tonelli a break on his sentence so that he could take over his stable. The upright A.D.A. was a pimp. She can understand needing money, but that is just so wrong. Maybe God thought so too, meting out his own justice. What happened to Buckley was a lot worse than a prison sentence. Too bad the Lord didn't see fit to do something similar to whoever killed her mother – or give her the chance to do it. Still, divine justice or not, she needs to catch a murderer.

Castle wants to know about Alexis. She should put him out of his misery - but not yet.

* * *

Scarlett lied. She knows who Danton is, but she says she'll be killed if she flips. Castle guarantees her that Kate won't reveal her source. He should have asked her first. But right now, she has no choice but to agree. Danton is John Knox. John Knox has the Reverend as his alibi, but he could have sent someone.

* * *

She would love to kick Knox in his smiling face. He's standing there surrounded by members of his stable and she can't do a thing. She knew the promise to Scarlett would come back to haunt her. She has no grounds to arrest him and no leverage to make him talk.

* * *

What? Castle was with Scarlett at his apartment. He insists it wasn't a date. He's not really in a condition to do much kissing anyway. She can see the faintest shadow of a bruise about to erupt on his jaw. If she didn't know it was there, she wouldn't even notice it. But that's when they hurt the most. Maybe that's what gave him sympathy for Scarlett when she showed up at his door beat up. But he was showing compassion for her anyway. And he did get the pictures from her. The only place the Reverend was upright was below the belt. No wonder he swore to Knox's alibi.

Someone checked Scarlett out of the hospital. Knox! He has her.

* * *

Kate warns Castle to stay back. He is too emotionally involved. He could get a lot more than a sore jaw. He could get himself killed. A shot!

Scarlett has a gun. She killed Knox. Castle is hunkered down holding her. Why is he so sympathetic to prostitutes? And wordsmiths? How could she have thought he was selfish? He has the softest heart of anyone she knows. Softer than her own.

* * *

Castle wonders if Scarlett will be all right. The odds for sex workers are not good. But, he wants Scarlett to be OK. It never was about sleeping with her.

Jessup is there. He wants Kate to recommend him for locksmith school. Like she would. But he notices what she didn't. The frame of Knox's apartment hadn't been shattered. The door hadn't been locked. Scarlett couldn't have been his prisoner. She'd played Castle, and she'd played Kate too. Scarlett and Knox had been in business together. Until she decided to take it for herself.

* * *

Castle calls Scarlett as she sits triumphantly in front of her laptop in a bar. Her triumph fades as they approach. Castle recounts the story Scarlett gave him, but then he tells her that she was so busy building up walls to keep people out, she doesn't realize that she's the one trapped inside.

His words are like a lightning bolt. Is she like Scarlett? Are her walls so high and so thick that she's the one trapped? She can hardly talk to Castle, afraid he'll see the self-made barrier around her that he sees around Scarlett. He's expecting her to say, "I told you so," but she can only say she'll do it tomorrow.

Castle reached out to her, the way he reached out to Scarlett. And she was just as closed off. Now it is too late to open up.


	19. Chapter 19

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 19

A body in a trash chute? It wasn't the slide that killed him. He has a GSW to the chest. Castle is holding his nose. Really? Sometimes he can still be such a wimp, but at least he's not one when it counts. Is it really necessary for Espo to say the witness is a hottie? Does Castle have to offer to comfort her?

* * *

Castle is so good at making coffee, but he's using it to pump her about Alexis's internship. It's obvious that he isn't sure he wants Alexis at the precinct. Having her around will be a lot easier than having Castle around. At least with little Castle, there's no problem with sexual tension. And as silly as he's behaving about this case that never seems to let up.

A fiancée and a wife? She's half expecting Castle's grin to crack his face. And the captain thinks the situation is as delicious as Castle does. Men are all little boys!

* * *

The victim, Sam Parker, gave his fiancée, Sarah Reid, a fake name, Jake Holland - along with a phony story. They've only been together six months. Sam was using his false name at work. It wasn't just about an affair. He was a corporate consultant in green technology. Apparently, he was more concerned with being faithful to the environment than he was with being faithful to his wife.

Sarah didn't have a hint. Neither did Sam's wife, Helen. People believe what they want to believe. No wonder it's so hard to trust anyone, especially a man. But why the fake name for the job?

Castle thinks his two wives were two too many. Having met Meredith and seen how Gina rides Castle about his writing, maybe she can understand that. He's not about to go for three, is he?

* * *

Alexis is about as earnest as anyone can get. Kate is sticking her with a pretty lousy job, cataloging all those unclaimed items. Still, the little Castle is ready to dive right in. Clearly, she doesn't have Castle's penchant for procrastination. Not that he procrastinates about real murders, only writing about fake ones. But Alexis doesn't seem to think much of her father's behavior. Does Castle's daughter have any idea how much he worries about her?

* * *

Sam's brother-in-law left him a threatening message. Could he have known that Sam was cheating on his sister? Men have killed for less. Sam needed money. So, why did he leave his job in Connecticut for one in New York if not for big bucks? It doesn't make sense.

Could it have been because Sam was passed over for promotion? The boys are biting at her taunt about the fragility of the male ego. But not Castle. Witchy powers? Yeah, she got him back with the broom joke. But does he really think she's witchy?

* * *

Sam's aka Jake's resume was almost too good to be true, but his new boss at New York Recycle, Lance Carlberg, had checked out his references. Lance also knew about Sam's romance with Sarah. That's interesting. Workplace relationships are not always tolerated by the brass.

* * *

None of the numbers of Sam's references are in service now. They must have been as phony as his identity. He didn't meet Sarah until after he started working at New York Recycle. He didn't come to New York for her. And if he wasn't making more money, why did he want the job so badly?

* * *

Alexis is doing a terrific job. Castle is proud of her. He should be. And the proud father knows about brag books. He still has one on his phone. Of course, he would. Those pictures would be so important to someone who's suffered a loss. If they were her mother's, Kate would want them. She'll do what she can to help Alexis track down the owner.

* * *

Sarah thinks that Helen Parker knew about her. She claims to have seen Helen before. The road trip to Connecticut with Castle is long and hardly worth it. Helen denies being in New York. She couldn't leave her kids during the week, and Sam was home every weekend.

Could Sarah have been mistaken or was she lying? Why would she? And why was she calling Helen? A pen? A mistress calling a widow about a pen is either incredibly crass or clueless.

* * *

It's beginning to all make sense. New York Recycle was taking business away from Sam's old employer, Connecticut Solutions. Sam wasn't there for the salary or for Sarah. He was a corporate spy! Sarah Reid was on the team of engineers that developed New York Recycle's tech. Engineers, especially women who've had to fight their way to their positions, might be crass but very unlikely to be easily fooled. For Sarah to be a weepy mess, even in the current situation, doesn't make much sense either. Of course, Sam romanced her. He proposed to her. But did that really blind her? Forensic information technology is looking at Sam's computer to figure out what he stole.

In tears -again- Sarah wants to know if it is true that Sam was just using her. Considering that there is a wife, it is a dumb question. But what can Kate say? It's obvious that he was.

* * *

Sam's emails lead straight to Andy Berman, CEO of Connecticut Solutions. He was supposed to pay Sam a million dollars for New York Recycle's secret formula. But the information Sam sent was worthless and investigating it had drained the company's resources. Andy had cut Sam loose. Andy claims that Sam had called him to tell him he really had something and that he had gone to New York, but the cops were already there.

Likely story! If Sam had the goods, Andy probably killed him because he didn't have the million dollars to pay him. Castle likes the way she filled in the story. Coming from the master storyteller himself, that's quite a compliment - until he spoils it by speculating that he's rubbed off on her. Maybe he did. She's read enough of his books and having him by her side in the precinct… Shake it off.! Rubbing against Castle is not what she needs to be thinking about.

And he's being silly again. Why do men get so excited about fights between women? Is it some weird sexual turn on?

* * *

The pen again? Brilliant engineer Sarah is fighting over a pen? Kate has to give Castle credit for trying to referee. She isn't having an easy time keeping the mistress and wife off each other either. Is Castle disappointed when she finally calms the women down? He seems more interested in the discrepancies in the case than a cat fight.

Sarah says Sam had an ulcer, but Lanie didn't find one. Where was Sam going when he was supposed to have all those doctor's appointments? He spied on a house? Port Newark? The recycling plant in Paramus? What was he looking for?

* * *

Even if Sam didn't really love Sarah, Castle thinks maintaining two relationships had to be stressful. And how would he know? Literary point of view? Really? Was he faithful to his wives? She really still doesn't understand about how Castle really feels about women - not even her.

* * *

The owner of the house Sam was spying on is none other than Sarah Reid, except that she's a single mother named Lauren Branston. She's no engineer. That's making more sense now. But what is she and who was conning whom?

Sam and Lauren were spying on each other. Lance Carlberg hired Lauren to intercept Sam. She proudly proclaims that men think they're smart. The trick is to let them think it. But Sam was smart. He made her. Men aren't so dumb, at least not some of them. Working with Castle continually reminds Kate of that.

Lauren has lied so many times. Did she know she'd been burned? Did she kill Sam because of it?

* * *

Castle's asking a different question. If Lauren didn't really love Sam, why would she give him her grandfather's pen? And why would she fight with Helen Parker to get it back? Lauren must have had another reason for going to Connecticut.

Castle is on a roll. He finds the shredded pictures in Sam's office at the Parker home. They'll need some tape. Good thing Sam didn't invest in a crosscutter.

* * *

The pictures tell it all. New York Recycle wasn't recycling. The company was switching labels and dumping toxic sludge while destroying Connecticut Solutions, which really was looking out for the environment. Lance Carlberg was poisoning the world for money. He offered Sam a bribe to look the other way, but Sam really did love the environment. He said no to the money. Tragically that meant saying no to his life.

* * *

Helen needs to know that Sam never cheated on her and he never turned his back on his cause. He was faithful to both. At least that's the kind of news Kate enjoys giving a grieving widow.

* * *

Alexis has created some good news of her own. She tracked down Anna Knowles, the daughter of the owner of the brag book. Castle couldn't be prouder, declaring Alexis a chip off the old block. He's talking about a talent for solving mysteries, but it looks like Alexis has inherited something more precious than that. Like Castle, she really cares about other people, even the ones she doesn't know.

Alexis has given Anna back a piece of her mother. If only someone could give Kate back a part of Johanna.

Castle tried his hardest, even when she didn't want him to. Now it is too late to tell him how much that meant to her.


	20. Chapter 20

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 20

Ugh! Is Castle really kissing a dog? He's insisting that she's his work wife and that he should get a dog to go along on cases. No! Castle offers that she's judgmental and disapproving as proof that she's his work wife. Is that what he thought of his wives? And is she? Maybe. There's nothing wrong with liking dogs. It's kind of sweet, actually. And that one seemed to like him back. Aren't animals supposed to be good judges of character?

The victim is Victor Fink, owner of the gallery. COD is clear enough. Lanie dug two slugs out of him. But there were five shell casings, and the boys only found two more bullets. So where's the fifth one?

* * *

No, Castle, the round was not made of ice. She doesn't need Esposito to point out that it would have made a hole. An ice hole. Stupid joke. He's probably wrong anyway. _Mythbusters_ did an episode proving that it wouldn't work. Funny Castle missed that one. He usually loves that kind of thing. Maybe he put off his writing so long he was holed up on deadline. That would be like him.

* * *

Too many suspects. Fink's wife Angela says all his artists were his enemies. She thinks Fink's old assistant Rocco was mad enough to shoot him in the back, something about money. She didn't think he had it in him. But Angela isn't much of a grieving widow. She's more worried about what to do with her breast implants. Eww. What kind of comfort is she supposed to offer about that? But Angela doesn't feel like a killer. If she were, she'd probably try to pump out some tears.

* * *

Castle thinks amnesia is way cooler than a missing bullet. That's a little surprising, considering what a TV trope amnesia is. At least he's stopped talking about ice.

Ryan saw the fifth bullet in the amnesiac's copy of Crime and Punishment. We know Mr. X reads literature. That lets out a good chunk of the population right there. He was at the gallery, but his fingerprints aren't in the system. He's not criminal, or not one who's ever been caught. And he can't remember why he was at the gallery, or anything else. Maybe a shrink can help.

Nice of Castle to bring her coffee. It would have been better if he hadn't spilled it all over her. Good thing she has fresh clothes in her locker. She has lots of them. Sometimes it's like she lives at the precinct and only goes home to sleep. Keeping busy does keep the demons at bay.

* * *

Doctor Holloway can't say when or even if Mr. X will get his memory back, but he hasn't lost his procedural memory. She can't think of anything to do with that, but Castle does. He makes Mr. X sign his name. He can do it. He can't remember his name, but he can sign it. He's not an X, he's a J. Well that's something, but not much. J doesn't recognize Fink or Rocco Jones. Poor guy feels useless. She gets that.

* * *

Bahir Harun was at the gallery. That's just another frustration. Did Fink rip off Harun by selling him fakes? Did Harun kill him for it? Even if he did, he's an attaché and has full diplomatic immunity. God, she hates that. No one should have that kind of shield against justice. Not just diplomatic immunity, but with enough money and power, it seems like people can get away with anything. She and cops like her are supposed to find a way to accept it and move on to the next case. She hasn't accepted it yet. She hopes she never will.

Where will J stay? Montgomery's couch is off limits? What the captain doesn't know won't hurt him. She isn't giving up on finding out who J is, even if he can't help with Fink's murder. She can't imagine having no life, no memories - even the ones she wishes she didn't have.

* * *

J is some kind of genius – in math anyway. He isn't an artist. His being at the gallery had nothing to do with that. J's picture is all over TV. Someone should recognize him.

Someone did. Her name is Tory Manchester. She says he's her husband, Joel Manchester. She's enthusiastic enough about getting him in a lip lock, but why is he having an asthma attack? Cat hair? Eight cats? Tory is a crazy cat lady? No, but mentally ill and in and out of mental institutions for years. Not surprising that someone like Tory showed up. They should have known. The boys will have to do a better job of vetting, and maybe get Dr. Holloway back for Tory.

* * *

Harun is coming in to talk. She can't figure out why. He doesn't have to. Maybe he's just trying to keep any international incidents at bay. He knew the paintings were forgeries. For demanding wives? Misogynist pig! J is in the doorway, but there's no response from Harun yet. He bought originals for men with taste. She'd like to kick him in his taste.

Harun does recognize J. He saw him at the gallery, arguing with Fink. So, Harun was at the gallery. But he has an alibi. Could J be into something shady? He doesn't seem like that sort of guy. But you never know what someone is hiding. She's learned that too many times.

Maybe the things that were in J's pockets will give them a clue. A plastic grocery bag. Dog hairs! Castle jumped on what she missed again. If New Yorkers have dogs, they have to carry bags to pick up poop. The dog Castle had been kissing outside the gallery must belong to J.

* * *

The dog's been picked up by animal control. She remembers Castle. Better still. She has a tag. Her name is Lucy, and her owner is a J, Jeremy Prestwick.

No wonder no one except Tory came for Jeremy. He has no family, only an ex-wife, Emma Carnes, and Lucy. And Castle thinks Jeremy might be lucky not to remember the ex-wife. Considering Meredith and Gina, she can understand why Castle might think so.

But Emma is sweet if anything she and Jeremy seem to genuinely like each other. She says he's crazy smart. That fits with the testing Dr. Holloway did. He has a Ph.D. but doesn't work. Jeremy sold his consulting business - apparently for a fortune if he can live in New York without working.

* * *

Jeremy's apartment is not the glitzy bachelor pad Emma or even Kate had been expecting. There are lot's of books, including Castle's. No doubt Castle gets' a charge out of that. And there's the painting Jeremy and Emma bought on their honeymoon. Jeremy was supposed to sell it as part of the divorce settlement. He even sent Emma her half of the money. But it's still there. Why?

No more time to think about the painting. The freshly fired nine-millimeter with five bullets missing is damning. And Lanie had found GSR on Jeremy's coat. He must have killed Fink in a struggle.

Sh*t! Why did it have to be Jeremy? He is so sweet. He even thanks her for being nice to him. She and Castle both feel for him. To kill someone and not know the reason? It would be easier if he at least understood why. She promises to tell him if she finds out. But she won't. The evidence speaks. She shouldn't need a motive to turn the case over to the D.A. and call it closed.

But Castle needs to know why, and he knows that she does too. Sometimes he knows her better than she knows herself.

* * *

Maybe there's a clue in the apartment. Poor Emma, having Kate draw a gun on her when she comes to retrieve Lucy's things. But Emma notices something Kate and Castle could never have seen. The painting is a fake. Emma thought that since he'd kept it, maybe she did have a second chance with Jeremy, but he'd just replaced it with a cheap copy and a cheapened memory.

* * *

But if Jeremy has a fake, where's the real painting? Could it have been sold to Harun? Kate can't do anything to the diplomat, but the car service limo is double parked. She can legally search it. What do you know? Jeremy's painting. Kate still has no leverage on Harun, but Castle does, with his threat of tabloid exposure.

* * *

Harun says that Fink said he'd acquired the painting, but when he went to pick it up, Fink sent him away. How'd he get it? Fink's assistant Darius? He's not Darius Langley, he's a counterfeiter named George Heller. He painted the fake and bribed Jeremy's super to get in and switch it. But he hadn't just bribed the super for that. He'd bribed him a second time to come in and plant the gun. He'd shot Fink and Jeremy - or Jeremy's copy of Crime and Punishment.

Jeremy is innocent. Thank God! And thank Castle for making her look deeper. Jeremy and Emma are giving things a second chance. Maybe they'll make it this time. She hopes so. Castle teases her about being a romantic. She can't show that much softness to him. She counters by telling him she sleeps with a gun. But they're both hoping for a happy ending for Jeremy and Emma.

She'd hoped for a happy ending with Castle. If she'd listened instead of pushing him away, she might have had one. But that chance is gone now.


	21. Chapter 21

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 21

Bridesmaid Sophie Ronson will never lead a bride down the aisle. She'll never go anywhere again. She was choked from behind; her windpipe crushed. One of her earrings is missing, torn from her lobe. Why? She was killed between three and five in the morning. She should have been in bed. Was she? Did she quarrel with a lover? But why would a lover choke her from behind? It would be more passionate and personal to do it face to face.

The bride, Kyra Blaine, hadn't seen Sophie since the rehearsal dinner. And she hadn't even talked to her then. Who doesn't speak to her own bridesmaid? Oh. The groom, Greg, says Sophie introduced him to Kyra. Had something been going on between those two?

It's about time Castle showed up. Is that adhesive on his pants leg? She's not even going to ask. But he wants to hear something. He dares her to tell him that she's never torn a picture of a wedding dress out of a magazine. Damn! Of course, she has. She thought about the perfect day. She just never met anyone she wanted to have it with. Until… No. Better to lie to Castle than to let what she's thinking show. But he knows she's lying. The boys do too. She usually has a better poker face than that.

Castle knows Kyra. They a lot more than know each other. She's never seen Castle look at anyone that way. And Kyra is gazing at him just as soulfully. It doesn't look like they can see anyone else. What were they to each other? Was Castle really in love with Kyra? Is he still? Acid is rising in her throat at the thought. Lanie has something, but Castle won't leave Kyra. He just says he'll catch up.

* * *

This is getting worse and worse. Lanie thinks Kate shouldn't be OK with Castle's history with Kyra. She isn't, but she can't admit that to Lanie. It would make it too real.

* * *

Castle says that Kyra is the one that got away. What does that mean? Were Meredith and Gina consolation for losing the woman he loved? If she and Castle ever did get together, would she be another booby prize? That's not going to happen, is it?

* * *

Groomsman Mike Weitz is missing. He was with Sophie at the rehearsal dinner. Could they have had a hookup that went wrong? People hook up at weddings all the time, don't they? The last entry to Mike's room was at 2 a.m. That fits. She tells the boys to pull security, but Castle notices the video cameras the guests at the dinner had been using. At least his head isn't completely in the clouds.

Sophie got a call and left - right in the middle of a speech.

The call came from the hotel lobby. Ryan recognizes the caller as a violent drug dealer. Could Sophie have been trying to make a buy that went wrong?

* * *

Why did she have to be alone in an elevator with Kyra? What can she say? Kyra's wedding dress is a safe topic and it is beautiful. Kyra says she feels like she knows Kate a bit from the dedication of Rick's book. She can't think of him as Castle, just Rick. Kyra still reads all of Rick's books. Yes of course she does. But she also says that Rick only dedicates his books to people he really cares about. Really? Does Kyra really think Castle cares about Kate? She seems to read him better than Kate has ever been able to. Damn! She's a cop. She should be better than that.

* * *

Sophie bought roofies. Castle can't figure out why a woman would roofie a man. In his opinion, she would just have to ask. Do women ask him to go to bed with them? Does he just do it? That's an image she doesn't want to envision.

* * *

Kyra's mother has always disapproved of Castle. Maybe he got away easy not having the bitch as his mother-in-law. But even when he was young, he was well on his way to being a successful author. What did she think was wrong with him?

* * *

Mike was drugged and locked in a closet. He's of the same mind as Castle. A woman doesn't have to roofie a guy. All she has to do is ask. But if Sophie didn't want sex, what did she want? Mike isn't missing anything but his key card. Even Castle doesn't have a theory - not even one of his crazy ones.

* * *

The boys are stuffing their faces. In her present mood it's like itching powder on her skin. They should be working on finding out what Sophie was up to and solving the case. The sooner Castle is away from Kyra, the better. Oh, God! Is that what she's really worried about?

* * *

There Castle and Kyra are, staring into each other's eyes again. What the hell was going on? He offers Kate cake. Sugar won't help.

An elevator again. It might as well be a confessional. She doesn't ask, but Castle tells her anyway. He and Kyra were together for almost three years. It's hard for her to picture it. Kyra isn't at all like Meredith or the women who hang themselves all over him. She's real. Castle liked real. When did he stop? Or did he? Is she real? She doesn't feel that way. When is she straight with him? Almost never. Maybe that's why he's so drawn to Kyra. He wants someone who can open up. But Kate just can't - at least not yet.

* * *

Lanie accuses Kate of being jealous of Kyra. As usual, Lanie is right, but Kate's not about to admit that to anyone, not even her best friend.

* * *

That's why the name Kyra Blaine was familiar. Castle's second book was dedicated to her. No wonder she said he only dedicates his books to people he really cares for.

* * *

Whatever else is going on, case wise, she and Castle are still on the same wavelength. It's almost spooky. They think of the key card at exactly the same time. Sophie needed it to unlock Mike's door so she could get into Greg's adjoining room. And Sophie's earring is there. Was the groom getting in some last licks that went all wrong? Castle likes Greg for the murder way too much. Could he think that if Greg is the killer, it will open the door for him to get back together with Kyra?

* * *

That's the way Greg reads it. He wants Castle gone from the interrogation. Castle is asking all the right questions, even if he has an ulterior motive. Castle weaves a good story, but Kate doesn't have enough to hold Greg. Or does she? The earring is pretty damning. Maybe she doesn't want to hold him.

She's beginning to think Kyra's a suspect. What if she discovered Greg was cheating on her, confronted Sophie and killed her? Castle doesn't buy it. In truth, neither does Kate. If Kyra confronted Sophie, why would Sophie have been strangled from behind? There would more likely have been scratches on her face and defensive wounds. And Kyra is tiny. She probably could have curled up in Castle's lap. No! Scratch that image! Could Kyra have crushed Sophie's throat that way? People do strange things in a jealous rage. Kate's going to put surveillance on Kyra anyway. And she tells Castle to stay away from the would-be bride.

* * *

Kate stares at the pictures. She was right. Castle does want to get back together with Kyra. He ignored her orders and met his former lover anyway. The way he held Kyra, even before he kissed her; Kate can almost feel the love radiating from the photographs.

He still comes to her with coffee. She has to give him a chance to confess. The metaphor with the chair is lame, but she can't think of anything better. It's enough. He admits he was there but argues that he and Kyra just kissed. Just? They were heating up the night! And the one time he ever kissed Kate was only on the cheek, even if he had been trying to talk her into more.

Castle knows her too well. He points out that if Kyra had killed Sophie, it would have been a crime of passion. She wouldn't have been at risk of committing another murder. Watching her was a waste of police resources. He's right, but if she can't admit she was jealous to Lanie, she's sure as hell not going to admit it to him.

* * *

Sophie flew in early for the wedding. Why? What was she doing? She was broke, but being in a wedding is expensive. Kate knows that too well from having been a bridesmaid herself - six times. The dresses alone made a serious dent in her bank account. And Sophie had to pay for an airline flight and $200 worth of roofies. She paid for everything in cash. Where did she get the money?

It was Greg's Uncle Teddy. He'd claimed he hardly knew Sophie, but he'd paid for her dress. He used cash too. The only reason to do that is to avoid having the money traced.

* * *

And it was all about money. Teddy had been stealing from Greg, who would have come into a $2 million trust fund when he was married. Teddy enlisted Sophie to sleep with Greg, whom she'd slept with before, to stop the wedding. But it didn't work. Greg really loves Kyra. Even Castle can see that.

Teddy had to find another way to stop the ceremony, so he killed Sophie. The platinum from his tie tack in the wounds on Sophie's back proves it. If Kate had thought more about it, those wounds would have cleared Kyra as well. There is no way they could have resulted from a cat fight, no matter how vicious.

* * *

Castle is playing the recording of Greg's declaration of love for Kyra. Kate wishes she could read lips to know what they're saying. Kyra kisses Castle again but on the cheek this time. It's goodbye. Kyra tells Kate that Castle is all hers. Is he really?

* * *

The bouquet. How did she catch Kyra's bouquet? She wasn't even trying. Was it a sign?

If it was, she didn't take it for one. She wasn't ready. Now she never would be.


	22. Chapter 22

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 22

The victim is hardly an innocent. Jack Coonan is the enforcer for the Westies. He was prepared to defend himself with a loaded shotgun, but it didn't help. Whoever killed him was skillful and fast. Of course, Castle would immediately think of a ninja. It's always something out of a movie with him. But he's distracted by tapes of television huckster Johnny Vong. And the boys too? Both Castle and Ryan know every stupid word. What is she running, a kindergarten?

* * *

Dick Coonan wants to know if his brother suffered. She's not about to lie. She tells him that when she was in his place, she wanted to know the truth. She never got it. Maybe she can do better for the Coonan family. The brothers couldn't be more different. Dick is a philanthropist who built schools in Afghanistan, and Jack worked for the Westies' chief, Finn Rourke. Dick isn't sure exactly what Jack was doing, although Kate has a pretty good idea. Whatever it was, it got Jack killed.

* * *

The Westies' bar in Hell's Kitchen is not like Castle's usual watering holes. He could get himself hurt. But he's not about to stay back. He never does. She urges him to butch up a little bit, even while she's wondering what could be manlier than taking care of his family the way he does.

Castle tries to be the Irish version of macho. Unfortunately, his throat wants nothing to do with the pickled egg. Finn Rourke is sympathetic to Castle but is no help to her, claiming he can't remember the last time he saw Jack Coonan. He also assures her that no one else in the bar can remember either. Her threat of a health inspector cuts no ice with Rourke. He's used to being in control.

What's he controlling now? That's a scream! The small man on the floor is bloody. His hand is burned and his eye swollen shut. He insists he just had an accident. Uh huh. And she's the Queen of England.

* * *

The battered guy is obviously more afraid of Finn than of cops. Kate can't convince him to talk. The human punching bag is Trucho. He works for the Latin Kings, who are at odds with the Westies. He probably killed Jack Coonan himself. That would cause Finn to have him tortured.

* * *

But Lanie says Trucho couldn't have done it. The man who stabbed Jack Coonan was over 6 feet. Castle jokes that Trucho would have had to use a stiletto in stilettos. It's a stupid joke but to the point. If Finn wasn't torturing Trucho for killing Jack, what was he trying to do?

* * *

The last call Jack made was to the FBI. He was an informant! That's probably what got him killed. But Agent Forrest says Jack wasn't signed on as a source. Why did Jack want to talk to the FBI? Forrest doesn't know.

* * *

Finn Rourke is presiding over Jack's wake. He's not doing a bad job of it. As with everything else, he is very much in charge. And he is not happy to see Kate and Castle. He is surprised that Jack was talking to the FBI and angry that Kate is accusing Jack of disloyalty. Someone was bringing drugs into Westie territory; the one thing Finn won't tolerate. It was Jack's job to find out who it was and punish them. That's why he would have been talking to the FBI. Finn orders her and Castle out. She has no legal basis to stay, but she can see the teary woman staring at her as she and Castle leave. Castle saw her too.

* * *

Her name is Molly, and she was Jack's girlfriend. Molly asks if Kate ever had a thing for bad boys. Oh God! Rogan O'Leary! And in a way, Castle's history of harmless mischief-making was attractive too. But she's not about to confess anything, especially in front of Castle.

Molly says Jack wanted out of the Westies. He was scared. On their last night together, he gave Molly a key to give to the police in case anything happened to him.

* * *

It's to a bus locker, one of the few left. Somehow keys are always to a bus locker. They couldn't be to some nice mail drop where there would be security cameras.

Johnny Vong videos? She can see Castle gazing at her in awe as she slices through the plastic, tastes the white powder, and declares it heroin. Her maneuver actually turns him on. The bitterness on her tongue is a telltale. She'll still have to submit a sample to the lab, but she's playing the odds.

* * *

Castle says the Johnny Vong's presentation reminds him of his second wedding. Was marrying Gina like being told to walk over hot coals? Fire-walking's a scam anyway. If the coals burn down long enough, white ash on the surface serves as an insulator. As long as you keep moving, you don't get burned. That's the kind of thing Castle should know. Maybe Gina didn't give anything a chance to burn down. She grabbed him while he was mindlessly hot. He does have a tendency to jump into things. Vong runs. They always run. And the boys are very good at taking runners down. She believes Espo actually enjoys it.

* * *

Vong thinks Kate cares about the heroin. She assures him she just wants to know about Jack Coonan's murder. He swears he didn't do it. She's sure he knows who did. He's scared, so scared he loses his phony accent. He's too terrified to give her a name.

The look on Lanie's face is even more terrifying when she introduces Dr. Clark Murray. Castle pales. He already knows the man, but what's he afraid of? She feels like the floor is giving way under her. The same man who killed Jack Coonan killed her mother!

The captain offers his flask. There's no way a few swallows of scotch are going to kill the pain. He'll let her continue the investigation if she can. But all her strength has drained into the gaping maw beneath her feet. She runs to the only person who will understand.

* * *

It's raining as she sits in her car outside the diner, the light has gone out of the sky and the world. She hates to dump this on her father. He's fought so many of his own demons. But she's never needed him more. He confesses that he's been terrified for her. Johanna always said life never delivers anything you can't handle. After she died, he refused to believe it, because he couldn't handle the loss. That made two of them, except that he had hidden in a bottle and Kate had buried herself in her work. But he thinks Johanna may be reaching out, giving her daughter a sign that she can finally find the truth, and wield it as her weapon.

* * *

She wants to believe what Dad said. And there's a person she knows who will want to believe it too - Castle. If it hadn't been for him, she never would have made it this far. He says he'll do anything she needs. She needs to find her mother's killer. They need to break Vong.

* * *

It isn't that hard. When he thinks they're going to turn him out in the streets to be hunted, he gives up Dick Coonan. The man is total scum. He's a worse criminal than his brother was. He just hides it behind a veil of generosity and respectability. Trucho tried selling Dick's drugs in Westie territory. When Jack went after him, Dick sent someone after Jack. It was a trained killer named Rathborne, the same assassin who murdered her mother.

* * *

It cost transactional immunity for Coonan - which he doesn't deserve - but the trap is laid. Castle had said he'd do anything, but she didn't think that would mean putting out $100,000. He was willing to do that for her without even thinking about it. She can hardly wrap her mind around that.

* * *

How did the plan go south? Was Rathborne tipped off? Castle wants to take the blame. The wrong routing number on the money he sent? How can he feel guilty about doing something so thoughtful? And he won't even consider letting her pay him back.

And he's there for her again. He realizes that Dick Coonan said, "her killer," when Kate had never told him she lost her mother. Dick Coonan is Rathborne!

She catches the assassin before he leaves the precinct, but he is too quick. He grabs a gun, and he takes Castle. Oh no! Not after everything Castle did to help her. She'd love to put a bullet in Coonan's heart, but he's only the hired killer. She needs the man behind him. She begs Roy not to shoot him.

What did Castle do? That was some move getting loose, but Coonan still has a gun. He's going to shoot Castle! No!

Coonan can't die! He has to tell her who wanted her mother dead. But the blood has drained from his body, dripping from her fingers. He's gone and with him her chance at the truth.

* * *

Castle must have bought half the food in New York. What? He wants to stop shadowing her? No! He was there, her partner no matter what it took or cost. She can't lose him too. She finally tells him that her job is more fun when he's there, but she can't stand to have him tell anyone else. He swears that her secret is safe with him.

But that wasn't her real secret, was it? It was never about fun. It was about the connection that she felt with Castle that she's never felt with anyone else. And she broke it.


	23. Chapter 23

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 23

Why is Castle staring at her that way? He should be more interested in the case. A gender-swapped Goldilocks murdered in a stranger's bed is just the kind of mystery he loves. But who kills a squatter with a needle?

Why is there a camera? Castle's right. It's so the squatter can put everything back the way he found it. But he's still distracted. And Ryan and Espo are smirking. What are they hiding?

The victim is Douglas Bishop. He has a home. He has a job. He was killed by special K, ketamine, a club drug - or an animal tranquilizer. Why not use a gun or a knife or just bash his head in? The killing makes no sense. Neither does the way Castle is acting.

* * *

She has to break the news to Doug's sister, Melanie Kopek. It never gets easier. But at least Castle is there. These days, since Coonan, that helps. Melanie and her husband Stan had been at a party out near the airport where Stan works. They can't think of any reason someone would kill Doug. He wasn't in any trouble. He even had a nest egg put away to fulfill his dream of a scuba shop. That would let out drugs and gambling. The killing is the hardest kind to handle, the kind with no reason. She's going to find a reason.

* * *

Doug Bishop was not a squatter, but there was one, who'd been in other apartments. His fingerprints aren't in the system, so he doesn't have a record. Castle still has no theory. This is getting spooky. And what is he trying to keep her from seeing in the paper?

* * *

Previous unknowing hostess to the squatter, Michele Langford, has no idea who he was, but he fixed her faucet and left her cheap strawberry Champagne. Actually that last part doesn't sound so bad. Castle calls him the gentleman squatter. Not very gentlemanly to kill someone.

So that's what Castle and the boys were hiding! "His detective girlfriend!" How did the newspaper come up with that! It had to be something he said. She works up the best mad she can manage, even if somewhere inside she likes the idea. Castle's angry too, or at least he's pretending that he is. But they don't have time for that. Talking about canceling his subscription to The Ledger inspires him. A newspaper hold! She wishes she'd thought of that. He needs her as a cop to get the information from the circulation department. At least there are some things he can't do on his own. There's a strange comfort in that.

* * *

What was Castle doing and why is he out of breath? Flirting with some pretty reporter? At least they know when and where to find Mickey Carlson, the delivery boy.

Castle was dressing down the woman at the paper who wrote his profile? Strangely enough, she believes him. But he got a date out of it? Bachelorette #3, Amanda Livingston is beautiful, too beautiful. And she lives in the same rarefied ranks as Castle. Kate's praying that the green isn't flashing out of her eyes. She needs a distraction of her own, preferably a handsome one she can wave under Castle's nose.

* * *

Lanie has just the guy, heroic firefighter Brad Decker. Fine, she'll go out with him. And she'll make sure Castle knows it.

* * *

While she and Castle are waiting for Mickey is the perfect time to bring up Drago. Castle is surprised she's asking. He looks a little disturbed, too. Good. He says it will be impossible for her to get a reservation. He doesn't know about her useful if underhanded, leverage. Being a public servant has its perks.

Fifteen minutes late, but Mickey shows up. Why do they always run?

* * *

The kid spouts more fiction than Castle puts in his books. A man with a crescent scar? Syringes? Climbing equipment? Doug saves Mickey from getting killed and gets stabbed with a hypodermic? That wouldn't even fly on Scooby-Doo. She can disprove it quickly enough and charge him.

A phone call from Brad. Perfect timing. Castle and the boys are watching. A little hair twirl is a good touch. And her smile doesn't hurt either. He does sound nice. Maybe Lanie is right, and this date will be a good idea.

* * *

Castle is fascinated by a dumbwaiter. Really? The architecture in the Maitlands' apartment is nice, but it isn't worth that much attention. He just can't leave anything alone. No way! He finds a body in the refrigerator; a corpse with a crescent-shaped scar. Mickey was telling the truth, or at least part of the truth.

* * *

The dead man is Anton Francis, whose criminal history fits his face. The killers needed access to something they could reach with climbing equipment and the dumbwaiter. And they required Doug and his travel agency to get the Maitlands out of their apartment. But what's below the upscale flat? A pet shop? What would you steal from a pet shop? There's a bank on the other side of the wall. Did they kill each other before breaking into it? The more she learns about this case, the less sense it makes.

* * *

There has to be a third man to tie everything together. Maybe she should cancel her date. But the story has already reached the captain. She can't duck out on the firefighter who rescued puppies, in front of him and the boys.

* * *

Wait! What is Castle doing at Drago? He thought she couldn't get a table. That's a look of genuine admiration on his face at the way she twisted the arm of the restaurant owner by using the health inspector. Castle looks good - too good. So does his date. If anything, she's prettier than her picture in the paper.

Brad should really be more interested in her case. She can't stop thinking about the pet shop. She has to call in. What do you know? Bachelorette #3 couldn't hold Castle's attention any more than Brad could keep hers.

The pet shop owner took possession of black pythons from South Africa. She doesn't know how Castle knows, maybe he's been watching Animal Planet, but black pythons don't come from South Africa. Diamonds do. It's like she and Castle are sharing the same mind. There never was supposed to be a bank robbery. Dupree, the pet shop owner, is a smuggler.

She and Castle need to get to the pet shop. What about Brad and Amanda? They seem to have found each other. They'll be fine. Castle slips the waiter some money for his check on the way out and struggles to catch up with her.

* * *

Thank God Dupree's shot didn't hit Castle! But he doesn't seem very happy about the hairy spider on his shoulder. At least it isn't a snake. The snakes aren't there, but a scale and grading equipment are. There's no doubt that the killers stole Dupree's diamonds, but smugglers can't exactly go to the police about a theft.

* * *

Who would have known about the snakes? Customs! The airport! Stan Kopek works at the airport. The bastard killed his own brother-in-law.

The case is solved, but she's starved. She was too bored with Brad to eat much. He really was self- absorbed, And Castle's right; the portions were tiny anyway. Burgers and shakes at Remy's will be perfect. Right now, she really could bite into something thick and juicy.

Castle offers her his arm. It is a date, in a strange sort of way. Is she really twirling her hair? About Castle? God, she is!

* * *

Remy's is a different world from Drago, but it's a lot more her universe. The tables show the wear of many eagerly eaten meals and arms propped on them in defiance of formal manners. Talking to Castle is natural. She can discuss her plans for bringing Stan Kopek to justice without seeing his eyes glaze over. This is what she wants -sometime- when the man behind her mother's murder is caught, and the barriers around her soul crack.

She'd almost reached the last leg of her journey to an open heart, but now she's taken the road to a dead end.


	24. Chapter 24

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 24

The victim is freaking Cano Vega! Espo looks like he's going to fall on his knees in worship and she's not much different. When she was at a game with her dad, she almost caught one of Cano's homers. She replayed the moment in her mind for weeks - maybe years. Perlmutter says someone used Cano's head for batting practice. He could show a little respect, not that he ever does.

What was a millionaire like Cano Vega doing in Spanish Harlem in the middle of the night? Of course, Espo would know that Cano put in the ballfield for the neighborhood. Castle notices that blood would be on the killer's foot. Maybe it's better that someone at the scene -besides Perlmutter- didn't have his mind blown by the presence of a baseball legend.

* * *

Cano's friend and business partner "Freight Train" Tommy Zane has a story to tell. Cano went to Cuba, and he shook hands with Castro. Why would he do that when he fled Castro's persecution? His community can't understand it either. They've branded him a traitor. The hatred is led by Alfredo Quintana, editor of the local Cuban newspaper.

Quintana wrote that Vega needed to be reminded of the barbarous cruelty Castro showed the Cuban people. He'd declared that Vega should pay. Did he mean in blood? Quintana claims that he was home with his wife, sons, and brother. Castle thinks it's a pretty soft alibi. He may have a point.

* * *

When Castle suggests checking out Quintana's subscribers, Montgomery believes that Castle has some cop in him. What? Castle denies it. She would have thought he'd take it as a compliment. He says his family background is in carnies, hucksters and mind readers. Mind readers? Sometimes it seems like he can read her mind too well.

Cano was into a loan shark named Anton Wade. The only reasons that someone as rich as Vega would borrow money from a man like that would be if he needed it too quickly to get it from a bank or if he had something to hide - or both.

Wade looks good for the murder. His car was at the field where Vega was killed, and he has a history of going after welchers with baseball bats. But Wade claimed that Vega called him to come to the field to get paid, a regular occurrence. Vega always brought the cash in a plain envelope. When Wade got to the field, Vega was dead, but the money was still on him. He just took it and left. But he points out the obvious: if you kill someone who owes you money, they can't pay you. He's right. And blood was on the bottoms of his shoes as if he stepped in it, but not on the top where it would have been if he killed Vega.

What kind of trouble was Vega in? His wife, Maggie, didn't know anything about a loan. Vega hadn't wanted her to know about the money or his trip to Cuba. Those had to be related somehow.

The answer must lie in Cuba. Castle is more than willing to rub lotion on her under the blistering Cuban sun. The image that offer brings to her mind sends heat surging through her veins. He says he has very soft hands. She wonders what they'd feel like massaging sunscreen into her shoulders, her back, her… Can't think about that. There's a closer place than Cuba to find the answers.

* * *

The offices of Vega's agent are as big as Vega's reputation. Who's that! It's Joe Torre! And Castle knows him! And Martha knows him too! Kate's usually sharp tongue is tied in a knot when she tries to speak to the legend. God! She's got to call her father.

Cano's agent Bobby Fox claims that he was surprised when Cano wanted to go to Cuba. She's sure he's regaled anyone who would listen, with his story about how he used his Rolex to bribe the infamous El Pulpo, Head of State Security, to let Cano come to the U.S.

* * *

Perlmutter says that Vega had been in a fight. There are old bruises on his body. Castle notices one in particular that came from a championship ring worn on a left ring finger. She doesn't need to be told that it probably was made by his "friend" Tommy Zane.

* * *

Tommy Zane went to calm down Maggie because she thought Cano was having an affair with someone and Cano thought Tommy was having an affair with Maggie. That's just stupid enough to be true. But Tommy believes Vega was having an affair too. He'd seen him with the girl in the picture.

* * *

Damn cheating men! The more opportunity they have, the more they cheat. And men like athletes and famous authors, who have groupies, must have more chance than most. Did Castle cheat on his wives? She can't help but wonder.

* * *

Did Maggie kill Cano for cheating on her? Perlmutter said the first blow would have been to Cano's balls - and not the kind used for batting practice. She and Castle are mind-melding again, building the scene together.

* * *

Maggie has what she considers proof of the affair, a piece of paper with Lara and "Mi Cariño" – my love in Spanish - on it. But Maggie claims she hadn't left the house when Cano was killed.

* * *

Security footage confirms that Maggie didn't kill her husband. If it isn't the spouse, it must be the lover, Lara. But there's another wrinkle. Vega was fighting with Mario Sanchez, the head of the Cuban Consulate in New York. Why? Could that have had something to do with the murder?

* * *

Vega met Lara in Cuba. That explains a lot. He was desperate to get her out. Now they're back to Alfred Quintana, not only newspaper writer but friendly neighborhood human smuggler. The supposed humanitarian took $200,000 to get Lara to the states. Mi Cariño is the name of his boat. He uses it to get Cubans to Jamaica so they can fly into the United States without being deported. Bobby Fox had said there's a capitalist hiding under every socialist, about El Pulpo. Apparently, there's one hiding under a fiery idealist too. Quintana claims he would have done it for free, Sure. Right.

* * *

The apartment Cano had for Lara was hardly a love nest. It looked like the bed hadn't even been slept in. Castle immediately spins a tale of a honeytrap perpetrated on Cano as revenge for defecting. It sounds like one of his books. Wouldn't it have been easier to kill Cano while he was in Cuba than to send some femme fatale to do it? But there is dirt from the ballfield, and there is blood - Cano's blood.

* * *

Her surveillance of the Cuban Consulate paid off. Lara walked in there. If she was a honeytrap, she was a strange choice. She's very young and terrified.

* * *

Wow! Did she and Castle, both have it wrong! Lara wasn't Cano's lover, she's his daughter; one he never knew he had. That's why he went to Cuba, even if it pissed off his entire community. That's why he didn't tell his wife.

Lara saw the killer at the apartment her father had for her. Gray hair. Blue eyes. Bobby Fox. He couldn't entirely clean the blood from the tops of his obscenely expensive shoes. Damn! She finds a connection to a baseball great, and he has to turn out to be a murderer. Just her luck. Well, at least she's still got Castle and Martha. If she invites Martha for coffee, maybe they can talk about Joe Torre. And if Martha tells her any of Castle's secrets, well that would just be an accident.

Lara can stay in the country for a year before she has to decide whether she wants to go back to Cuba. Castle always thinks like a family man. It's kind of touching, really. He's worried that with Cano gone, Lara doesn't have anyone in the U.S. Maybe she does.

* * *

The look in Maggie Vega's eyes says it all. Lara is what is left of Cano, who loved them both. Maggie will take the girl into her home and her heart. Fatherless Castle has made the best family that he could, and he will get to watch Lara and Maggie do the same. Kate would love to twine her fingers through his as the love in the room surrounds them.

At that moment, there was a breach in her wall. Why couldn't she have reached through it? Now all that's beneath her fingers is cold stone.


	25. Chapter 25

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 25

A body hanging from the monkey bars and covered in caramel. That's kinky even for New York. But she's seen kinkier in her life - a lot kinkier. There was that time she was hanging with Windsor Northam who idolized the Marquis De Sade. She learned a lot about what she didn't want to do, and now that experience could come in handy. She's also getting some fun driving Castle and the boys crazy by hinting about her mysterious history.

* * *

Teasing Castle with a boyfriend is just the cherry on the cake. He can't wait to follow her to a sex store. He believes her boyfriend is imaginary - or does he? He's always reading her better than she thinks he can.

The cuffs were bought by a normal looking guy. They're the ones you have to watch. You never know what freakiness is going on beneath the placid exterior. It was the victim's boyfriend, Tyler Benton. And he's a doctor? Does he want to heal his patients or just enjoy their suffering?

* * *

The dead woman, Jessica Margolis, was doing research on sex. Could she have been killed by one of the deviants she was studying? Jessica's roommate Danielle seems to be grieving as much as Tyler was. Maybe more. It is amazing how close you can become with someone, love someone, even if you're not having sex. She and Castle - never mind that. Despite their friendship, Danielle doesn't know anything about Jessica's research. There are things people won't share. She knows that all too well.

Mistress Venom? That sounds promising. Jessica kept her notes locked up. She was competing for a fellowship with her officemate Kelly and another student named Matt Haley, among others. There was little academic comaradery there, more like a bitter rivalry. Is winning a fellowship a motive for murder?

Kelly reports that Jessica was getting harassing phone calls. Maybe they weren't from a fellow student. If a freak found out that Jessica was studying him, might he have killed her?

* * *

Maybe she teased Castle too much. He's trying to get her to talk about her own sexual adventures. She's already thinking about sex too much right now and teasing him even more doesn't do a thing to quell visions of what they could do together. He does yoga too and there's a position… No, this has to be about the case. They need to visit Dungeon Alley.

He's excited about going until she finds out that he's to be the target of Mistress Venom's attentions. Maybe he was just talking a good game and isn't into the darker aspects of sex nearly as much as he pretends to be. Could she have a darker history than he does? They'd have to compare notes to find out and she's not about to open that Pandora's box. Too much truth could come flying out.

* * *

Mistress Venom isn't at Lady Irina's House of Pain, but Irina is. What? Jessica Margolis was Mistress Venom? Castle looks a little sick. Wow! She didn't think he had that many illusions to shatter. She would have thought he'd find the idea of the academician playing dominatrix cool. She really doesn't understand what's going on inside his head.

Lady Irina is a lawyer. It figures. If she enjoys dominating men, the House of Pain is probably even more fun for her than a courtroom or board room. The woman is hypnotic. Castle can't stop staring at the bright scarlet of her lips. Irina says the lipstick is Mistress Red. Somehow Kate doesn't think it was the color that was holding Castle in its thrall.

One of the black clad mistresses is more forthcoming than Lady Irina was. Jessica had been crying in the locker room about a problem with a first-time client. He had been wearing scrubs! It had to be Tyler! Men have killed for far less than finding out their girlfriends are fulfilling the fantasies of sadomasochistic creeps.

Castle thinks Jessica became a dominatrix because she was afraid of a relationship with Tyler or even someone else. He believes that she became a dominatrix to understand overdependence. Sometimes she forgets how insightful he can be - or how fatherly. Alexis wants to be a cheerleader, but he doesn't like the short skirts. He may be fascinated by whips and shackles but when it comes to his daughter he's more into chastity belts. That is kind of endearing.

* * *

Tyler didn't kill Jessica. He was at the hospital all night. His supervisor confirms it. The hospital security footage does too. If it wasn't the jealous boyfriend, it had to be one of her creepy clients.

The answer is in Jessica's notes. The scene Sam I Am had fantasized was the same, right down to the caramel. But a fantasy is not proof. She needs a confession. And who better to get one than a dominatrix?

Sam I Am is William Carraway, president of a Global Consulting Firm, but she can cow him. She doesn't have a whip and even her shoe collection doesn't feature six-inch stiletto boots - at least not anymore. But the leather that sheathes her body like a glove will do the trick.

Sam didn't do it! He was at the party for his anniversary. She feels sorry for his wife. But if he didn't do it, whoever set up the murder scene needed to have access to Jessica's research. As jealously as the student-come-dominatrix guarded it that makes for a pretty short suspect list.

* * *

Kelly has an alibi, but she admits to lending her keys to Matt. And there's a picture - with Matt wearing scrubs. The do-gooder supposedly promoting AIDS research killed Jessica for a freaking fellowship. Jack Coonan, Quintana or Matt Haley; it's always the ones who act the most holy who are straight out of hell.

Matt's not a murderer, just a blackmailer. He threatened to expose Jessica to Tyler if she didn't withdraw from competition for the fellowship. Nice. She did, and he left her research at her apartment. Who else could have seen it?

* * *

Irina was there. The glass with the lipstick she was so proud of proves it. Of course, she would lawyer up. But she was the last one to see Jessica alive. She had to have done it. She cleaned up with bleach, but the pillow had saliva on it from where she strangled Jessica.

* * *

Why does Castle want to know who washed the pillowcase? Why didn't she see that? If there was saliva on the pillow but not on the pillowcase, someone must have washed it. And her own timeline says that it wasn't Irina. Castle just stopped her from tagging the wrong person as the murderer - again.

* * *

Castle was right about dependency, too, except that it wasn't Tyler, it was Danielle, Jessica's roommate. Just as she'd seen so many times, the line between love and hate was perilously thin. When Danielle read the papers Matt had left and found out what Jessica really thought of their relationship, she couldn't handle it. She killed the object of her obsession.

Is that what Kate was so afraid of? Loving going terribly wrong? Betrayal by the one you trusted the most? Did Castle really betray her? No, he just gave everything to save her. And she threw his gift back in his face. Who would save her now?


	26. Chapter 26

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 26

They're making a film out of Naked Heat. She doesn't know whether to be flattered or embarrassed. The phone call reporting a murder would be a relief, except that the man making it proclaims that he did it. She can almost hear the triumphant smirk in his voice.

The call traces to a phone booth in Grand Central Station. The killer must have been standing next to the body when he called. Sick!

* * *

The unfortunate victim is Alex Peterman of Dobb's Ferry. His wallet is still on him. It wasn't a robbery. The killer might not have wanted money, but he wanted to make sure Peterman was dead. Five shots from a 45 will take almost anyone's life. And no one saw or heard anything. The shooter might have waited for the noise of a train to assault traveler's eardrums, but still, New Yorkers have a real talent for seeing no evil.

* * *

With a case like this in front of them, why is Castle still talking about the movie? And why is Lanie playing along? Does she really picture herself as Hallie Berry?

Wait! The bullets have letters etched into them! Nikki! The killer has dedicated a murder to Nikki Heat - to her. His warped mind can't separate fiction from reality.

* * *

He calls again, asking for Nikki Heat. What has he done at the Central Park Carousel, a siren call to Manhattan's children?

* * *

The scene is dark, and the chirpy music only makes it creepier. The victim is a woman this time. She's shot four times instead of five, but still with a 45. Lanie thinks the killer is left handed. There are letters on the bullets again, too. They spell "will." Nikki will. Nikki will what?

Oh no! That caravan of black SUVs means the FBI is getting involved. Just what she needs! The Feds stomping all over her case.

Castle may not have been impressed with Sorenson, but he sure is with Jordan Shaw. She's never seen him so excited, and she's not sure she likes it. What? Castle wants to put Jordan in the movie. And he's impressed with the FBI's toys too. He always loves toys, but this is getting out of hand.

* * *

Now the FBI is setting up a war room in the precinct. She needs to find out everything Castle knows about Jordan Shaw. He's like a Trekkie about Mr. Spock; he knows way too much. Jordan cracked the Hudson Valley Strangler case at 25. She saved a woman's life while she did it. Kate is feeling outclassed. Could Castle be thinking about using Jordan as his new muse? He can't stop playing with her smart board. What else does he want to play with? At least Jordan is wearing a wedding ring. As far as Kate knows, that's a boundary that Castle won't cross.

Jordan has put together a profile of the killer. That was fast. Jordan thinks he might have been an arsonist, which would attract him to a character named Nikki Heat. Great! She tried to get Castle to change it. But she can't blame a nutcase on Castle, even if he is going fanboy over Jordan.

Maybe the fan thing goes both ways. Jordan is making everyone read Heat Wave. Did Agent Avery really have to bring up that Nikki and Rook were having sex? Now the FBI agents think she and Castle are bed partners.

Finally, some real evidence! A pinky print matches a career felon named Donald Salt. Once they collar the jerk, she can say goodbye to the FBI and their smart board.

* * *

Jordan really does think Kate's sleeping with Castle. She says as a profiler she's rarely wrong. If she were going by what Kate wants instead of what she does, she'd be right this time too. Castle backs her up that it's a sexless relationship. He had a sexless relationship with Gina? Really? Why?

At least it isn't Jordan and her team that take down Salt. It's Castle, even if he did do it with Jordan's Taser. His love of toys came in handy this time. Damn! It may have been Salt's pinky, but it wasn't attached to him.

* * *

The guy is still a jerk. She can almost see the slime dripping off him as he tries to flirt with her. She'd rather go out with a cockroach. What's on his bandage?

It's a code. But what do the numbers mean? Another score for Castle. He figured it out before Jordan and the feds could. But the message is to her. The murderer is going to kill someone before midnight unless she stops him. That gives her nine hours. It might as well be nine minutes. How can she stop him when she still doesn't have a clue to who he is?

Maybe if she goes back to what has always worked for her, her own murder board, something will pop. But there's nothing. He's going to kill again, and there's nothing she can do to stop it.

Oh God! Castle is mind melding with Jordan. She's agreeing with Kate that he's helpful. Jordan is taking her job, and now she's stealing her partner.

The killer calls again. He wants to know how it feels that she's failed. It feels like sh*t!

* * *

The body is missing. There are four shell casings. There is probably a four-letter word. She's got some four-letter words of her own. At least she's the one who finds the blood trail and the tire tracks that show that the killer loaded the body into the trunk of a car.

She wants to check the traffic video and put her people on a canvass of the area, but Jordan sends her home. Damn! She's not burned out!

* * *

She can take care of herself. She doesn't need Montgomery's freaking protection detail. She's got Chinese dinner for one, and she's got her gun. That's all she needs. What is Castle doing here? He brought wine. Oh, Jordan again. Jordan thinks Kate needs to decompress, and Castle hung on her every word. It is nice wine - expensive. But Jordan's orders don't extend to this. She's going to bed.

Castle is staying. He thinks he should protect her? That's sweet actually, but she can't let him feel her agreement is an invitation to anything else, even if she'd like to sleep with something warmer than her gun. Her bed seems even colder than usual, with what could heat it, right on the other side of the door.

She doesn't know how he did it without eggs, but he made pancakes. And he got her coffee maker to work, even with a broken filter. He's going to get the paper too? There's no time for… It's a body - a body with four bullets in it. The killer was right on her doorstep.

Now the boys really think she was sleeping with Castle. So does Jordan. The profiler says the killer wasn't just sending a message that he knows where she lives, but that he's disappointed in her. He's blaming her for the poor woman's death. Is it her fault?

* * *

Damn! Lanie thinks she was sleeping with Castle too. What kind of signals is she putting out? The bullets say burn. Nikki will burn. At least she and Castle are mind-melding again. They both realize that the victim was a taxidermist.

* * *

A dog is the key. The killer couldn't pay to get his stuffed dog out of hock? Is that what set off this whole thing? It doesn't make sense. If the killer was too broke to pay for his dog, where did the $5,000 he paid Salt come from? But he is tied to all the victims. The dog of the second one attacked the bichon frise in question. And lawyer Alex Peterman refused to take the case. It looks like Ben Conrad killed all three.

* * *

Now Ben Conrad killed himself too. He had embalming fluid. He also had the makings of a detonator and plans for the precinct. He was going to burn Nikki Heat all right, and all the other cops with her. But now it's over. Good bye to the FBI and to Jordan. Thank God!

* * *

A hot shower is what she needs to wash away the case. It's a cliché, but the phone really does ring when you're in the bathroom. With Conrad dead, she's off duty. She can ignore it - at least until she's finished with her shower.

Castle's warning comes as she's hearing the artificial voice of the detonator bid her goodbye. The door! The tub! It's her only chance.

The concussion rocks her, slamming her body against the hard porcelain and steel. She can feel the heat of flames and the smoke is beginning to choke her. Is that her door being knocked down? The fire department couldn't have come that fast. It's Castle! She feels naked before him and not just because she isn't wearing any clothes.

His jacket feels good around her. Even her smoked filled nostrils can smell his familiar scent in it. And his arm supporting her is firm and strong. Why is she teasing him about being proud of saving her, when he's just asking if she's in pain? Enough things are out of her control. She can't let go of anything else.

* * *

She should have known the case wasn't done. The money was a dead giveaway. She shouldn't have let herself be pushed. But she did. Thank God, Castle couldn't let it go. He explains to her and Jordan about Ben being left-handed. That was another clue both she and Jordan had. They didn't follow it, but he did. If he hadn't gone with his gut, Nikki - or she - really would have burned.

Jordan wants Kate off the case, but this time she is fighting back. Damn straight this is personal! It was her apartment that blew. She's not being pushed aside.

* * *

Where is her father's watch? She needs to hang on to something meaningful in her life. Jordan finds the blast seed. It's cyclonite from the embalming fluid they found in Ben Conrad's apartment. But why was it there if Ben Conrad wasn't the killer? They missed something.

* * *

They missed a whole hidden room! Ben Conrad was held prisoner in there. There's even the disguise the killer wore. But there are no prints from the killer. Why didn't the killer leave fingerprints?

He calls again. He knows she's alive! He was watching. How was he watching? He was disguised as a cop, one of their own. Jordan calls him a chameleon; an insult to all the other lizards on the planet!

* * *

Castle brings her coffee. She can always count on him to do that. They're together in front of the murder board again. That feels right. Castle thinks the killer hunted Conrad. Conrad was a Knicks fan. He didn't have a TV, so he must have watched somewhere like a sports bar.

* * *

Who would have thought there were so many sports bars? But they hit the jackpot. The owner called a cab for their killer. The owner remembers the killer and Ben Conrad because they were both pains in the butt. She had to call a taxi for the killer when she was trying to watch overtime in a game.

* * *

They don't have an address, but at least they have a corner. The FBI toys are working with Jordan's profile. They have an address now!

* * *

Jordan tells her to stay back. She knows she's the target and Jordan's right, but it chafes anyway. Damn! He's coming down a fire escape. He's going to get away. There are just too many people in the way in the subway station. The bastard waves goodbye from the train. But they have him on video. There you are, Scott Dunn. We know who you are and we're going to get you.

* * *

Off the case! Captain Montgomery tells her to go home. What home? Castle's loft? She can't do that. He'd be too close. She'd want… But the captain makes it an order.

Going up the stairs in the opposite direction from Castle should be the right thing to do. Then why does it feel so wrong?

She can cook breakfast. It's one way she can remember her mother. Jordan never made it home! Dunn must have her!

* * *

He doesn't want Jordan, he wants Nikki. They need to get to him before the time of the exchange. Castle identifies the shadows out the window of Dunn's taunting video as bridge towers. And she can hear the elevated Pelham line. They have him.

* * *

Castle thinks it's too easy. A Star Wars metaphor isn't a good enough reason. But things are not the way Castle would write them. Castle has a writer's thought processes. Dunn is working from his manuscript. He may think like a writer too. And if it weren't for Castle's instincts she wouldn't be here.

She has to trust him - enough to give him her gun. He's right! Dunn is there. He has Jordan, and he can blow up the entire team. It's up to her and Castle.

She's in Dunn's sights. But it's Castle who shoots the gun out of Dunn's hands. No partner could have done more.

* * *

Kate had expected Jordan to dress her down, but the agent says she's impressed that Kate came in with Castle. She might as well be. Castle saved both their lives. Jordan says Kate may not be ready to hear it, but Castle cares for her. She protests that it's complicated.

Her father's watch. He found her father's watch and had it fixed for her. He saved her life - twice - and he's still giving her presents.

What was so complicated? Their minds were in sync, and their bodies could have been. Why couldn't she figure it out? Why didn't she ever figure it out? She could have been with him now.


	27. Chapter 27

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 27

The victim, Will Medina, was hit by a falling gargoyle. Castle should love this! Medina would have had to stay in front of the door long enough for the killer to pry the stone figure loose. Castle asks if the lock had been tampered with. He's right. It was. He's on his game tonight.

Medina's apartment shows every sign that he was a museum curator. He isn't married, but an extra toothbrush, women's shoes, candles, and a copy of _Eat, Pray, Love_ are clear signs of a female presence. The boys think it might be a casual relationship, but Castle insists that the well-read femininely-oriented book proves otherwise. Ryan loves the book? What is Jenny doing to him?

* * *

Castle is recounting happy memories of Sundays at the Museum with Alexis. Oh, does he have to spoil it by talking about picking up chicks? Maybe it's her fault for refusing to acknowledge her interest in him. Or is he just being a jerk?

Maybe it makes sense that Will Medina was killed by a falling hunk of grotesquely carved rock. He was quite the Indiana Jones, leading an expedition to find the tomb of a legendary Mayan king. Castle has immersed himself in the adventure too much. Where did he get an Indy hat? And opening a sarcophagus? He really is like a big kid.

Rachel Walters, the mummification expert, doesn't find Castle's antics amusing. She says she wasn't close to Will Medina, but she's very upset over the death of a mere acquaintance.

There were death threats in Ancient Mayan? Who could have sent those?

What? A curse? Will was killed because of a curse? Castle isn't the only one acting infantile. Ooh! Castle looked at the mummy! Maybe she and the boys can get some fun out of this. Castle deserves it for that crack about picking up chicks, doesn't he?

* * *

The angry Mayan who sent the death threats mailed them from Spanish Harlem. That doesn't yield the most extensive suspect list. He shouldn't be hard to trace, but all Kate is finding is dead ends. Dead ends. More mummy-speak.

The boys are getting in the act, blaming their inability to locate the suspect on Castle being cursed. They're enthusiastically playing along with the joke, right down to casting knowing glances at Castle's paper cut, but he isn't biting yet. He accuses them of living in the Dark Ages. She'll get him yet.

* * *

The chair. All she had to do was pull a couple of screws and Castle is flat on his well-rounded buns. He looks sore. She didn't really mean to hurt him.

He's OK, and really enjoying interrogating Cacaw Te - maybe because the name sounds like a character from Star Trek Voyager. Castle's mind is never far from outer space. Cacaw Te did send the death threats, but he claims he didn't kill Medina. He just wanted the Mayan people to get their artifacts back. More ominously, he claims he didn't have to because Medina was a victim of the curse. Is Castle getting a little pale?

The Mayan had a motive but he also has an alibi. She's going to hold him anyway. Even if he didn't kill Medina, sending death threats is a crime, and he may have other information she'll need. Having the Mayan around will also help her get under Castle's skin.

* * *

Medina was sleeping with Rachel Walters. Kate thought there was something between them. Rachel claims she was hiding it because she didn't want to get fired. She explains that their boss, Stanford Raynes, hated Will - over a girl. Stanford blamed him for the death of Nicole, who died of a jaguar attack in the jungle.

Stanford confirms that he blamed will. He accused him of luring Nicole into the jungle for sex. He think's Will's death was Karma.

She's telling Castle that she feels punished by having to put up with him every day. It isn't nice, and it isn't true. She's feeling guilty even as the words come out of her mouth, but the next step in Project Curse has been set up. She's already involved the bomb disposal unit, and she can't back down in front of the boys. Anyway, it will be funny, and the guys from the BDU assured her that Castle wouldn't get hurt - again.

Castle sticks it to the museum's publicity guy for trying to cash in on Medina's death. Good for him, and now he deserves her prank even less.

* * *

There's no mistaking the sound of the rigged cappuccino machine or Castle's startled yelp. She's a little ashamed of herself, but laughter is leaking out of her like escaping steam. Still, maybe it's time to pull back on the whole curse thing. She's tortured Castle enough - maybe too much.

Medina was with someone at the bank - and not an archaeologist. Norton Grimes did two years for drug trafficking. Drugs, is that what got Medina killed? No curses required for that.

* * *

The boys are still teasing Castle about the curse. Where did that dog come from? It sure got its teeth into the back of Castle's jeans. Not that she minds the view. But now Castle is beginning to believe in the curse too. Who whistled at him? Not fair! He's her shadow!

There was mummy flesh found on the gargoyle! Maybe she's beginning to believe in the curse a little bit herself.

Castle is going home to change his clothes. Mmm. He sure looks good walking away from her.

* * *

Grimes claims he dropped out of the drug game and is into antiquities. Medina isn't looking much better. He was selling stuff from the museum to Grimes. Arrowheads aren't so bad, but a mummy? Medina was going to sell a mummy, but the buyer reneged. Why? Was Medina pulling a scam or is Grimes just lying? Drugs make more sense. The captain urges her to take a sample and find out.

* * *

What's Castle doing at the museum? Looking for an antidote to the curse? She finally hooked him, but in the process, she may have hooked herself.

Rachel doesn't want her to open the sarcophagus. What is she hiding beside her affair with Medina? It's empty! The mummy is gone. Castle isn't saying he believes, but where's the mummy?

There was no sign of drugs in the sarcophagus. It should be impossible, but is the mummy out there seeking revenge? Is there really a curse? Having Castle compare her to Daphne in Scooby-Doo isn't helping much. But he is right. She's nothing like Velma. And saying she's hot was a compliment, especially when he's so distracted by the curse.

* * *

Why is Castle lying on the floor of the elevator? He looks a little sick. He really believes he could die of the curse. He asks her to look out for Alexis. Wow! Even now, he's thinking about his daughter. She feels guiltier than ever for being so hard on him. Sure, she'll look out for Alexis, but Castle isn't going anywhere, is he?

Of course, Espo would want Castle's porn collection. Wait, why does Castle need a porn collection? Could he be feeling deprived? Deprived by her? The thought is titillating and terrifying at the same time.

The fingerprints in the basement of the museum are from a Charles Taylor. He was checking out the mummy for Grimes' buyer. Grimes was telling the truth! There was something wrong with the mummy. The sarcophagus and wrappings were 2,000 years old, but the mummy was less than 500.

* * *

Much less. Lanie puts the shriveled remains at having been dead for four months. She can see the light go on in Castle's eyes as he says he knows who the mummy is - and who the killer must be. Rachel Walters is the only one with the skills to make a mummy.

* * *

But she isn't. She learned from Stanford Raynes. It was all about jealousy, one of the oldest motives in the book. Fright and flight. They always run! The boys are there to intercept him, but he falls. Is Raynes cursed by seeing a mummy or just being a murderer?

* * *

There can't really be a curse, but if there is, she needs to keep it away from Castle. She can make a deal with Cacaw Te. Hell, she'll even drive him to the airport. Cacaw Te whispers the way to break the curse in Castle's ear. What did he tell him?

She still doesn't know. She wishes that she knew how curses are cured. Maybe she could have broken through the one she brought on herself.


	28. Chapter 28

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 28

What the hell is Castle doing flirting with that D-list actress? She's been in some of the worst movies around. What is Bobby Mann telling him? Probably a dirty joke.

* * *

Bobby Mann had a heart attack. There was no foul play - no matter what Castle says. So now he's talking about a fictional poison. This is too much!

* * *

Lanie wants Castle to fork over big if Bobby Mann did die from natural causes. Nothing in the tox screen. Another tox screen? His MAO inhibitor interacted with balsamic vinegar to give him a heart attack. Maybe he was just careless. Lanie says no. There was nothing in his stomach but signs of something sweet like the paper wrapped wad of chewing gum Castle just found in Bobby's effects, the vinegar, and some cranberry juice.

Castle jumps on someone using the taste of the cranberry juice to mask the flavor of the vinegar. Damn! He was right! Bobby Mann was murdered.

* * *

The kill zone was 1:30 to 4:30 a.m. Castle thinks it's strange that Bobby Mann left his Bugatti. She thinks a man as wealthy as the late-night host probably didn't give it a second thought, but then maybe Castle knows the rich better than she does.

* * *

Bobby had been acting paranoid and weird - and not just when he told Castle that someone was out to get him. People around him knew that he couldn't have anything fermented with his antidepressants. That's not much help in narrowing down the suspect list.

Hank McPhee should know Bobby better than anyone. They've been together since before Kate was born. Some of their jokes are that old too. Mickey Reid, the host of Late Talk, hugs McFee and tells him he's sorry.

Wow! Bobby had six ex-wives! The jerk traded them in for newer models every five years, like used cars. Cindy, wife No. 5 had an argument with Bobby, He had a restraining order against her - but he showed up at her building.

* * *

He wasn't there to see Cindy, he was there to see Barbara Mann, the only wife who fell in love with him before his fame hit. That makes more sense. He was worried, asking her if he was a good person. What had Bobby done to make someone mad enough to kill him? And if he knew he was in danger, why did he tell Castle instead of the police?

Ellie Monroe! That no-talent tramp wants to be with Castle. He's going to comfort her. Yeah. Sure. If he believes that, she's got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell.

* * *

Castle has that just-got-laid look. He won't even deny it. Ellie Monroe. You'd think he'd at least pick someone who could act. Obviously, she uses another method to audition. Castle better have used a condom. God knows what Ellie might have besides a phony smile.

Castle thinks he can track Mann's Bugatti faster with Twitter than she can with traffic cams. He's right too. FTW means for the win? He's right again. Maybe she should keep up better. Ellie is calling Castle, and he's using a love song for her ring tone. Ugh!

* * *

Mickey Reid lied about seeing Bobby. Bobby went to his place. They had an argument - right in the middle of the kill zone. Killing for a time slot would be pretty callous, but she's seen murders committed for a lot less. Mickey claims he lied because he wanted to stay out of the tabloids. Bobby was paranoid about Micky being a disloyal puck.

Network executive Howard Weisberg is furious. He bans Castle from his network, but Castle doesn't seem to care. His mind is probably still on going to bed with Ellie Monroe. The captain explains that Weisberg got scooped by another network about Bobby's murder. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Where did Bobby go after he left Mickey's place? He went south in the theater district. The theaters would be closed, but activity at clubs would be it at its peak. He went to the Comedy Factory. His gum had been wrapped in paper torn from one of their flyers. And since there was no vinegar on the gum or the paper, Mickey couldn't have killed him.

* * *

Bobby went to see Angel Santana, a comedic rising star. Why would he do that? She's a little hip for his style. Someone vandalized Angel's bike, scratching "late night bitch" into the paint. Could Bobby have done that? Why? Santana says Bobby was pissed because she went on Mickey Reid's show instead of hers. Why would someone that rich and powerful be that petty?

* * *

Castle is trying to pretend he isn't in a good mood. Even if she didn't see the hair on his jacket, she'd know he slept with Ellie again. She has other things to think about. There is no usable forensic evidence on Angel's bike. There are no red flags in Bobby's phone records or financials.

Oh God! Castle is calling the producer of the Nikki Heat movie. He wants Ellie to play Nikki. Kate wasn't being cynical, Ellie's attention to Castle is all about couch casting. It was one thing to have Castle write Nikki as slutty, but to have her portrayed by that little whore is nauseating. Castle doesn't want to believe her when she points out what Ellie is up to. Is he really that naïve? He thinks she's jealous. Is she?

There's a picture of Bobby with young intern Kayla. Eww! That's almost pedophilia! Bobby was being blackmailed over the tryst. Was it by Kayla?

* * *

The girl insists they were in love; they'd been together a whole three weeks. Gee! Kayla said she was keeping it secret because she didn't want her mother to find out. Her mother? She's the daughter of Janine Marks, the producer! If Bobby weren't already dead, Janine would kill him.

Hank McPhee doesn't think that Bobby bedding an intern was so bad. He suggests that Kayla might have been wife No. 7. Looks like Kayla dodged that bullet. McPhee insists that Bobby should be remembered with grace. What grace is there in serial wives - or paying enough in alimony to feed a small country?

* * *

At least Ryan came up with something. Bobby paid $100,000 for a kitchen remodel that never happened. With the bed-hopping the man did, when would he have time to cook? The money went to a less than savory P.I. named Zach Robinson.

Robinson bugged Howard Weisberg's office. Small world, one assh*le bugging another one. Zach gave Bobby the CD's the day he died. No wonder Janine said Bobby had been locked up in his office all morning and emerged in full paranoid mode. What was on those tapes?

* * *

Yeah, Weisberg said he wanted to give Bobby a heart attack so Mickey Reid could replace him, but he didn't mean it. He wanted Bobby to have a show that would appeal better to a younger demographic. He claims the worst he would have done was fire Bobby and pay him the $80 million penalty for terminating his contract.

Weisberg is scum, but he was telling the truth. He has an alibi - Ellie Monroe. The actress wanted a part in a sitcom. Wow! Now she really hopes Castle was wearing a condom.

Castle's pretty upset. He honestly thought Ellie was for real. His innocence is a little endearing. But with Ellie off his mind, they're going at full bore again. Bobby was going to replace Hank with Angel Santana. That's why he thought he was a bad person. After all those years, he was replacing Hank McPhee with a younger model. Pity he didn't have the same concern for his wives.

* * *

It was all Hank. He was the one who messed with Angel's bike, he sent Bobby the compromising picture, and he was the one that spiked Bobby's cranberry juice. It was the ultimate betrayal.

She accused Castle of betraying her. Hank killed his best friend. Castle was just trying to save her. That wasn't betrayal; it was love. Why couldn't she accept it?


	29. Chapter 29

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 29

Who's the guy with the bod? He's cute in a vanilla kind of way. He wants to steady my bag. OK. At least he can take a hit. Damn phone!

* * *

The victim, Paul Finch was no angel. He was a thief, but he hasn't been arrested in years. He was electrocuted and tortured. But Castle notices that Finch's eyes are closed. They're still mind melding. They realize at the same time that the killer must have known Finch. But who treats someone like that and then respectfully closes his eyes? It doesn't make sense. They'll find out who, if they can get prints off Finch's eyelids.

* * *

Finch's wife Monica insists that he has been out of the game since prison, but he was doing something for a friend. An honorable thief? His wife thinks Finch was a good man. Was he? What could have lured a good man back into crime?

Wow! The cute guy who was holding her bag is from Robbery. His name is Tom Demming, and he's an old friend of Espo's from their days together at the 54th. Tom thinks Finch had a partner. There's a safe deposit box. The cash at the bank was untouched. Weird. Hey, Tom likes the weird ones too.

* * *

Fred Cana is the owner of the box. Tom might as well be with her in the interrogation. Castle can watch. Philatelist! Tom's good! What is wrong with Espo? He doesn't usually barge into the box like this. Mobster Victor Racine killed Espo's partner at the 54th, and Cana is his bagman. Tom knows about Racine too. He can really be helpful on the case, and it is an excuse to keep him around.

Espo and his old partner Ike Thornton were targeting Racine. Ike disappeared. IA thought that Ike was working with Racine, but Espo insists Ike wasn't dirty. There was no body, but his car was found bloody and shot to hell.

* * *

Finch's car was wiped down. Someone was careful. Then why fingerprints on the eyelids? Racine has an alibi. Of course, he does. Men like that never get their hands dirty. They have people for that.

She and Tom make a great team with Racine. Castle is clueless, but Tom really understands her play. Racine hasn't found Finch's partner. He wants the cops to do it. Then he can have him killed in jail.

* * *

Lanie is fuming the body to get the prints off the eyelids. Castle wants to take pictures. He would. Maybe he'll use them in his next book. He seems jealous of Tom. Should she be annoyed or flattered? Maybe a little of both.

Castle's gone, and Lanie is pumping her about Tom. She isn't admitting she's interested in him any more than she admitted being interested in Castle. Lanie lost money betting she'd get together with Castle. Too bad. But why didn't they hook up? She is thinking about taking things further with Tom. Is it because he understands her as a cop, or is he just safer than Castle?

* * *

The prints Lanie lifted belong to Ike Thornton. Espo's really a mess. Worse, Holliwell from IA shows up. He thinks Thornton was tipping off Racine. He's accusing Espo of being dirty too. What! Holliwell is slime. Espo is willing to take a poly to clear his name. Good! Holliwell can eat his suspicions.

Oh no! The piece of metal found in the car must have broken off a key fob from the 54th like the one Espo has. Ike would have had one. Castle thinks Ike's wife Carol should know.

* * *

Carol says she doesn't believe Ike's alive. Castle is skeptical. She got no pension or death benefits, but her mortgage and bills are being paid. How is she managing? If Carol won't be straight with her and Castle, maybe she will talk to Espo.

* * *

What was in the safety deposit box? Tom comes just as she's about to call him. They really are in sync. They can scrub the bank surveillance tapes together in the morning. She's looking forward to it.

* * *

Castle shows up with coffee, but Tom already brought some. Maybe she and Tom should have been paying more attention to the screen. It's Castle who spots Finch – and Thornton – and Finch's wife, Monica. She was lying when she said she didn't know what Finch was doing. They need to talk to her again.

* * *

Monica knows what the job was, all right. It wasn't money. It was a ledger - one that could nail Victor Racine. If Thornton was dirty, why would he want that? But if there is a real dirty cop, his name would be in the ledger.

Holliwell says Racine put a price on Ike's head. Espo is worried about Carol and Ike's son Tim. He should be. Ike was looking for the name of the dirty cop on Racine's payroll.

It has to be someone from the 54th. Could it be Tom? He requested the case. Maybe he doesn't really just like the weird ones. Maybe he was playing her. No one gets away with playing her! They'll need access to his phone to get his SIM card. She can distract him – and she'll beat the sh*t out of him.

* * *

He says he lost his fob from the 54th. Sure. Wait! He has an alibi? He was coaching an underprivileged kids' youth basketball league. Is he too good to be true?

Espo says he's taking a walk. What had to be done in time? He's making no sense. What's he doing?

They're dead in the water. No. The idea to get them going again comes from Castle. It usually does, doesn't it? She and Tom had nothing. Castle says IA must have had an informant to go after Thornton. How's she going to get a name out of Holliwell? She can't but the captain can. Holliwell named Espo as his informant? That's impossible! Holliwell must be the dirty cop. He was working for Racine all along.

* * *

Holliwell is dripping blood - and he has the ledger. He should bleed to death. It would save them the trouble of a trial.

They've got Racine. That was all Thornton wanted. But Tom is being sweet and saying Finch acted alone. Ike can finally go back to his family.

Tom wants to be her sparring partner again. He could become a lot more. But what about Castle?

* * *

Coffee with Tom is fun, and their date will be too. Castle is jealous, she can tell, but he's claiming that her date with Tom is not a problem. If he objected to her going out with Tom, maybe she...

* * *

The body frozen on the floor of Q3 is Balthazar Wolfe. She's never heard of him, but Castle has. The "Big Bad Wolf?" Kitchen Wars? A reality show? Really? And why should she care about molecular gastronomy?

It wasn't a robbery. Nothing is missing. Wolf was finishing up a cake. That should have been the pastry chef's job, but Wolf was molding special decorations.

Wow! It's Maddie! She owns Q3. And Castle seems very taken with her. Maddie has an alibi. Good. Oh, but Maddie spills the beans about Kate watched _Saved by the Bell_ reruns. Castle is too damn smug! He's liking Maddie too much, too.

Wolf worked nonstop, but for two weeks he has been taking off between 3 and 5 o'clock with no explanation. He had late night company, also. Night chef Domingo Verdugo made the soup. Castle wants to know what else Maddie knows about Kate from High School. This better not be ending up in his next book.

* * *

Wolf's foster brother David Nicolaides is at the precinct with his girlfriend, Cecily Burkett. All three of them were friends, but David says that Wolf was like a brother to him. David's father even left both of them a diner in Queens. Wolf asked David to buy out his share. $40,000? Not much for a diner. Wolf must have really needed the cash. Why? He put all the money he won into his partnership with Maddie in Q3. But still,why did he suddenly need more? His financials should show something.

* * *

Domingo Verdugo was on his way to Ecuador with $5,000. Wolf gave it to him for his sister's operation? From a backpack? It wasn't at the murder scene. The story seems ridiculous, but the staff at Q3 saw the backpack earlier. Domingo may be telling the truth. And he saw a woman at the restaurant having an argument with Wolf.

* * *

Maddie identifies the sketch of the woman as Sandra Meyers. She invites Kate to a charity event at Rocco DiSpirito's restaurant. Kate can't go. She says she has a thing. She's not bringing up her date with Tom in front of Castle again. Castle volunteers his services to Maddie. He asks Kate if it's a problem. Of course, she denies that it is. He did the same about her date with Tom, didn't he?

* * *

Sandra is turned on by food. She and Wolf were doing it in the kitchen? There are kinkier things. Sandra says Wolf wanted to stop screwing around and grow up. That's why they were arguing. Could the money in the backpack have had something to do with that? Sandra has an alibi. So, does her husband. Square one again. At least Kate has her date with Tom.

Wolf was at Café Rex. What was he doing there? And he has bruises on him. Is that what he needed money for? Was someone threatening him?

The prints on the rotary evaporator that killed Wolf belong to Jennifer Wong. According to Castle, she was Wolf's nemesis on Kitchen Wars.

It was all an act? She played the villain for ratings. Wolf may have won the $100,000, but she got funding to start a catering business. She had lent Wolf the rotary evaporator the day he was killed. He'd also had the backpack. Jennifer dropped him off at 47th and Lex. And she had an alibi.

All Wolf did at Café Rex was stare out the window and drink tea? Why? Castle is more interested in what color shirt Maddie would like him in. Kate's tempted to tell him chartreuse - Maddie's least favorite color in the world. But he might end up coming back to break up her date with Tom. She tells him to do what he wants. He will anyway, but so will she!

Maddie says she's bringing cookies to say thank you, but that's not really why she's there. She wants to know if Kate has a thing for Castle. No! Of course not! She's dating Tom now, right?

Tom has to finish paperwork? Damn. But he's ordering Chinese. That's better than nothing. It might even be fun. She's got a candle somewhere. And maybe he can figure out why Wolf was carrying a backpack full of cash.

Why are the boys interrupting her dinner with Tom? They say that Wolf was at 47th and Lex to see a lawyer. He wanted out of his contract with Maddie. That could ruin Q3! Could her friend be a murderer?

* * *

Oh God! Maddie and Castle are feeding each other and giggling over the risotto. That's going to stop right now!

* * *

Castle thinks she could have at least allowed them to finish their dinner. She could have. She didn't want to. She should have told him to wear the chartreuse.

Maddie insists that Kate lied; that she wants Castle; that she wants to make little Castle babies. She doesn't, does she? She's got Tom. And oh God! Castle can hear it all.

Maddie insists she was going to let Wolf out of his contract. She just needed time to find a new chef. And she does have an alibi. Kate already knew that. Maddie couldn't have killed Wolf. Was dragging her away from dinner really about Castle. No, of course not. She needs to recheck that alibi.

* * *

No Maddie didn't do it, but Tom has a lead. Wolf was doing business with bookie Wesley Slade. A bookie named Wesley? But he looks nasty enough. That explains things. Wesley's thugs gave Wolf an "incentive" to pay $25,000 he owed. They didn't just beat on him, they took an engagement ring. Wolf paid the money and got it back. But Wolf didn't have a ring. Where is it?

* * *

Castle figures it out. The ring is in the heart on top of the cake. When he holds it out to her… Wow! Just for a minute…

* * *

But who was Wolf proposing to? Did the would-be bride kill him? If anyone would know, it would be David, but he says he has no idea. No one ever met Wolf at Café Rex, either.

She and Maddie apologize to each other. At least she has a friend again. And neither one of them has ever been offered an engagement ring. They have that in common.

* * *

She and Castle are still on the same wavelength. Wolf must have been at Café Rex to watch the object of his affections while getting up the nerve to propose. Cecily? David's girlfriend? No wonder Wolf didn't tell David.

* * *

Cecily is pregnant. And it is Wolf's child, conceived while David was away. He'd come to comfort her when David was out of the country. She'd always loved Wolf, but she couldn't count on him. He was the bad boy, the big bad Wolf. David was the safer choice, so she stayed with him.

David knew it was Wolf's child. David killed Wolf over a woman. It's the oldest story since Cain and Abel. Castle thinks Cecily should have followed her heart. But why upset the apple cart? Why risk it?

Castle says the heart wants what the heart wants. Maybe he's right. Tom wants her to go to Remy's with him for a beer and a burger. That's not what her heart wants right now. She needs to be with Maddie, the friend who can see what she is really feeling – that she wants Castle, and always has.

A/N Guest, I will be combining some episodes as I did here and skipping some. I'll also fill in a bit of what happens over the summer when Castle is with Gina. That is when Kate knows she really screwed up letting Castle go. The Ficathon goes until Sept. 7, but it won't take that long to finish the story. It would take a while for Ryan to spill to Gates and get there to catch Kate, but she can't hang on forever. I'm already 75 percent of the way to achieving the Ficathon and more than halfway to the Mega Ficathon. The idea here is to bring Kate to the point where she can no longer deny the truth, which as we all know is that she wants Castle, not loveless relationships with guys like Demming or Josh.


	30. Chapter 30

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 30

Blood is dripping from the body and the mirror. What does it say? Murdero? Murdere? The clock is broken at 10:24. That makes Lanie's job of determining the TOD a lot easier.

The victim is Damian Wilder. She's never heard of him, but Castle has. Boutique men's products? Heated shaving cream at $50 a can? Sometimes she forgets what a metrosexual he is. Tom probably uses the stuff on sale at the drugstore. But then he is a little rough sometimes, even in the morning. The few times she's had an excuse to touch Castle's face, it has felt wonderful. And he always smells good too. Not of cologne, just clean.

Whew! She's with Tom not Castle, and she should be concentrating on the case. Castle's doing a better job of it than she is. He notices the humidity controls on the broken display case. What could have been in there that would need humidity controls? A neighbor said she saw someone going over the fence at 10:52. That's a nice tight kill zone.

* * *

She can get Tom in on the investigation. It's thin, but whatever was stolen is a robbery component. Damian's cousin Blake knows what was in the display case - rare book editions. Damian could afford them now, but Blake originally lent him the money to start up his business. That would give him a stake in it. That's interesting. Blake thinks Damian's place was cased by one of the workmen who was renovating Damian's kitchen. Tom is all over it as a robbery. Do workmen usually steal rare books and leave high-end TV's untouched? Maybe the killer had a literary soul, or he could have been working for someone who does.

Castle doesn't think the murder was about the theft. Of course, he wouldn't if Tom does. Castle believes the books were a crime of opportunity. Otherwise, why would someone scrawl something on the mirror in blood? He has a point. So, who had a motive to kill Damian?

Damian was having a problem with animal rights groups. Apparently, he'd been unaware that one of his sub-contractors was doing animal testing, but the protestors weren't. They liked to write their messages in fake blood, but could one of them have graduated to the real thing? Castle gets it again. The message on the mirror was not weird, it was unfinished. It was supposed to be "murderer."

Damian had a run-in with a protester known both for throwing fake blood and violence. Wait! Damian was getting rid of animal testing. The protesters were getting everything they wanted, and one killed him anyway? That makes no sense. Maybe Tom is right to pursue the robbery angle, but they still have to talk to the protester who was at Damian's home.

* * *

Lance Newman admits to throwing blood on Damian's stoop, but he overheard Damian having an argument with a woman. The woman said she was humiliated and Damian said something about a gun to his head. And Lance couldn't have killed Damian. The charge on his credit card to buy a movie ticket proves it.

He's probably telling the truth about the woman. If she killed him, then Castle was right about the books not being a motive. But Tom found the books turning up online from just the type of dealer who might have killed for them. The dealer bought the books from a homeless guy for $100? Give me a break!

* * *

Damian was dating someone, a supermodel named Natasha Piper. She's not very upset at his death. She can stop texting. She claims that he was cheating on her with some skenk at a cheap motel in New Jersey and thinks that Damian got what he deserves. Nice.

* * *

Castle is muttering something about books until the boys show up shaved with Damian's hot shaving cream. He's too proud of himself.

* * *

Ugh! The motel really is a dump. And the woman checked in as Scarlett O'Hara. Scarlett's room was rented for four nights. Kate's surprised the rooms don't rent by the hour. Bennie was the clerk, but he's taken off for parts unknown.

Tom is preening. A couple of books from Damian's collection showed up online, sold by just the sort of dealer who might kill for them. Tom is sure he'll get him to confess. He doesn't. The suspect bought the books from a homeless man for $100? Come on! But yeah, they'll go to the park to check out the story.

There really is a homeless guy, Marty, The Junkie. He admits he sold the books, but claims he saw a man throw them in a trash can. Right. Sure, he did. But Marty has an alibi. If the books were dumped, robbery couldn't have been the motive. Castle was right, and Tom doesn't like it.

And Castle's been working on the mystery woman. The boys set up a voice lineup. It's Lisa Jenkins, a woman they already interviewed. They need to talk to her again.

Maybe not! The guy in the sketch the police artist made from Marty's description looks like Blake Wilder. Tom's obnoxiously triumphant. Both he and Castle are acting like kids on a playground.

Blake's got an alibi. Lisa has one too. He was at an ATM and buying cigarettes at the start of the kill zone. She was back home before the end of it.

* * *

At least they found Bennie - or the Atlantic City police did. Castle spots Bennie's bag. She missed that. So that's how Bennie could afford the best three days of his life. He found $75,000 under the bed in Scarlett O'Hara's room. Scarlett must be a blackmailer. Bennie identifies her from pictures, as a lab tech at Damian's business.

* * *

Castle thought she had cruel eyes. More like wet eyes. She's crying like a sixteen-year-old who just broke up with her boyfriend. She was blackmailing Damian over benzophiosophene, the chemical that makes Castle's favorite shaving cream hot. Used long enough, it can cause permanent capillary damage. She says she'll give back the $75,000. How can she do that when Bennie blew it at the craps tables? There is another $75,000!

* * *

Damian wasn't going to pay blackmail, he was going to recall the product. But two people couldn't let that happen - Castle's suspect Lisa and Tom's suspect Blake. They both came to kill Damian, Lisa with a gun and Blake with a bludgeon. That accounts for the timeline.

Male egos being what they are, she'll allow both guys to bring in their suspects.

The kiss from Tom is nice, but no skyrockets. She wonders if Castle would be any different. She and Castle do make a great team. They always have.

* * *

What Castle says about his Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons sounds fun, magical really. Is he serious about inviting her? Maybe… No, she's going to be in Asbury Park with Tom, but she tells Castle she's working. Why is she lying? Why doesn't she want Castle to know she's going away with Tom?

The killer was very fastidious. He shot the victim five times, then dug out all the bullets. Castle thinks he must be a trained assassin. The shots weren't heard, which means the killer used a silencer. At least Castle didn't say "ninja." The victim's ID says he is Sean Caldwell and works for FGS in Manhattan. Castle thinks it sounds like a CIA front. Well, he would.

* * *

Castle is showing her pictures of his house in the Hamptons. It is beautiful, a lot nicer than anywhere she could go with Tom in Asbury Park. Maybe too nice. She really doesn't belong there.

FGS doesn't exist. Sean Caldwell's IDs are all fake. Maybe Castle wasn't so far off about the CIA.

* * *

Castle notes that the killer shot from a distance - and very accurately. Lanie finds a bullet fragment - from a Glock. It's not enough for a ballistics match, but it's better than nothing.

* * *

The victim's car is like play-land for Castle. It looks like a spy's car - right out of the movies. The trunk has 5,000 in euros and a high-tech gun in it. Castle's playing with a pen they found. Wow, it has directions for a meet, and a self destruct right out of _Mission Impossible_.

* * *

If the victim is a spy, no agency will own him. Castle is practically jumping up and down with how cool that is. She wishes she was as impressed. The captain wants them to make the meet.

* * *

The first target, a French woman that Castle spots, is a bust. But Hans Brauer gives all the right passwords and a bunch of spy lingo - very old-fashioned spy lingo. When Castle asks him about the target, Brauer attacks him. Good thing she has her gun.

* * *

Brauer is beyond arrogant. He won't say who he works for, just that he'll be released. Not if she has anything to say about it.

* * *

The manager at the Carter Regency hotel recognizes the victim. The room has more stuff out of a Le Carré novel. There's a security dossier with a scenario to hit someone from Luvenia. Castle is more up on his geography than she is. He knows there is no Luvenia. And he figures out that everything is fake because it is all a game - a deadly one.

* * *

Brauer is scared out of his mind when Castle convinces him he's really in jail and not in some high-price simulation. Spycations? It takes all kinds.

Damn! Castle caught her making out with Tom. She didn't want him to see that. He knows she and Tom are dating - but still. And Gina called. Castle should be writing Naked Heat. Ugh! Nikki's going to be naked on the cover again.

* * *

The game came from Spy Ventures. Nothing was real, not even the weapon. But they didn't give the victim, Roger Faraday, any real money - let alone euros. The whole package wouldn't have cost that much. So where did the money come from? If it was why Roger was killed. Why is it still in the car?

* * *

Oh no, Castle just overheard Tom talking about the beach house in Asbury Park! Well, now he knows. She explains she didn't want anyone to be uncomfortable with her and Tom being together. But she's the one who's uncomfortable.

What? Castle is going to stay in the Hamptons for the summer! She knew he was behind on his writing. Gina made that very clear. But does he have to leave? He is her partner, isn't he? He says this is their last case. That doesn't sound good.

* * *

Roger's handler Hugo put the briefcase with the euros in it in a locker for Rodger. He's selling phony IDs to Ukrainians. Roger got killed over that?

The Ukrainians are just kids. They didn't kill anything except the pitchers of beer they bought with their newly minted IDs. Now what? She can't talk it over with Castle. He's leaving for his poker game. He's pulling away already.

Ryan and Esposito want to have a going away party for Castle. Why does he need one? He'll be back in a few months, won't he? Espo isn't so sure. He doesn't think Castle is there to watch her carrying on with another man.

Damn! She doesn't want to be with Tom! She wants to be with Castle, in the Hamptons or anywhere.

* * *

She and Castle are still sharing thoughts. They're both pretty sure the killing had nothing to do with the game. This case is getting more sordid as it goes along. Faraday's overextended partner would have made half a million off killing Roger, but his alibi is he was sleeping with Roger's wife.

Melinda Faraday doesn't even feel guilty about it. She says she and Roger had a sexless marriage. Was he having sex with someone else?

* * *

Wow! The French lady at the meet was Andrea Fisher. She and Roger Faraday were playmates in more than the game. He shelled out $5000 to pay for her Spycation so she could be with him. Who would shoot Roger for that?

It was her husband, Ken Fisher - owner of a Glock - and a crack shot. Jealousy. When a murder isn't over money, that is usually the motive.

She can't stand the thought of Castle leaving, but she has no claim on him when she's with Tom. She can't be with Tom; she's been lying to him and lying to herself with move she's made while they've been together. She hates to hit him with a break up when he was looking forward to their getaway - but it would just be worse later.

* * *

Now she has to tell Castle how she feels. She's trying to get the words out. Oh, God! Is that icy blond Gina? She recognizes her from the book party where Castle was, when she first brought him in for questioning. Castle is going to the Hamptons with his brittle ex-wife!

Kate waited too long then. She's waited too long now.


	31. Chapter 31

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 31

There was only one word for the way Kate was feeling - miserable. She'd read all of Castle's books twice, but it didn't help. If anything, she felt worse; his accountings of Nikki's adventures were so close to the cases they'd solved together.

She couldn't even have a decent cup of coffee. Castle wasn't there to bring it, and she could never do half the job he did with the fancy machine that still dominated the break room. She couldn't even stand looking at the thing anymore, keeping her eyes straight on toward the refrigerator or the vending machines, the few times she ventured in to grab the food that landed heavily in her stomach.

When Castle first left, their closure rate had dropped, making the captain cranky. They were caught up now, but not setting any records. The 90 percent humidity of August had overstayed right into the autumn equinox, draining even the enthusiasm of murderers. There was nothing to do except tedious paperwork, and the boys weren't even doing that.

Ryan was trying to balance an egg on its end. It splattered on the floor and of course, on her shoes. Ryan didn't have the magic touch. Only Castle had that - in ways she never got the chance to discover. Thank God, a case.

* * *

Chloe Whitman was doubly dead. She'd been shot with a large caliber bullet before diving out a window. Was she trying to get away from her killer? She must have been desperate to escape.

* * *

What? Ryan sees Castle. Damn! It's only a cardboard figure in the window of a bookstore. Castle's supposed to be doing a reading there. Apparently, he's back in the city - and he didn't call. Now that she knows he's back, should she call him? No, he's the one who left. But he never did know that she broke up with Tom, did he?

* * *

At least Chloe has a boyfriend - Evan Murphy. They were together for six months. Wow. She and Castle had been together for two years. She has to stop thinking about him. She has a case to solve. Evan says Chloe was a teacher and that everyone loved her. Obviously, someone didn't. And she'd packed an overnight bag. Evan doesn't know why. That's strange.

Chloe had an address in Tribeca in her hand. She was holding it so tightly Lanie almost missed it. It's for a Maya Santori.

* * *

There's another dead body. And Castle, holding a gun. Damn, Ryan, don't shoot him - at least not fatally. She can't really believe Castle is the killer, but she has to arrest him.

* * *

Castle isn't taking the interrogation seriously. He doesn't act guilty - not even about not calling her. He looks great. He says she looks good, with that grin of appreciation that he always has for her. If he still feels that way, why didn't he call? Was he sleeping with Maya Santori? He says he wasn't, and that he's in a relationship, and she knows with whom. Gina? He's still with his witchy ex-wife?

He says she sounds jealous. She should be better at hiding it than that. And the expression on his face when he sees that she broke up with Tom… If she'd had a chance to tell him before Gina showed up, things might have been so much different.

He says Maya was dead when he arrived and when he heard noises he thought the killer might be coming back. So, he picked up the gun to defend himself. That actually makes sense, but she's not about to admit it.

Thank God, the ballistics report clears him, He was holding a 38 and Chloe was shot with a 45. He wants to help with the case, but she can't let him right now. She can't have him seeing how much she missed him.

* * *

Castle's chair is empty. It doesn't have to be. She could have let him come back.

The bullets that killed Chloe and Maya came from the same gun. The killings are related, but how? What's the connection between a high school chemistry teacher and a sculptor?

There is too much sympathy in Espo's eyes. She needs to get away. Checking in with Lanie is as good a reason as any.

* * *

Lanie wants to know if she wants to talk about arresting Castle. No. If she does, she'll say too much; feel too much. Chloe and Maya have tattoos. Who doesn't? She has one - where it doesn't show. But Lanie says she thinks the tattoos may have come from the same artist. It's a connection, but a pretty thin one. There was a number written on Chloe's hand: 227. What could that mean?

* * *

She's got a better lead. Both victims received calls from the same address. They were called by a Todd McCutcheon, and he has a rap sheet.

* * *

What the hell! What's Castle doing there - and with another dead body? She's going to cuff him again, but the boys say the body's cold. It's been dead for hours. Looks like it was shot with a 45, like the other victims, and Castle doesn't have a gun.

McCutcheon was in vending machines. How would that tie him to a chemist and an artist?

Castle says he's just trying to help. She thinks that if he'd really wanted to come back, he would have, wouldn't he? He asks if she ever thought that he was just waiting to hear from her. She was the one who always called whenever there was a murder. That's right. Why would he have come if she didn't, especially since he thought she was still with Tom?

He's arguing that the universe is bringing them together. He looks so hopeful. All right. She'll tell him he can come back for this one case. But what then? The bet! That's the answer! If he breaks the case, he can come back as her partner. She'll be covered. And if he doesn't, she'll just have to push him toward the solution.

* * *

Wow, the morning feels good. Even the temperature is less oppressive, and Castle is there with coffee. She's trying not to smile and her disapproving look isn't hard to maintain because Castle's talking about the CIA again! She'd thought he might have picked up a new obsession while he was gone, but some things don't change. There's another clue. Maya went to the Bowery. Why?

Todd McCutcheon's fiancée never saw Maya before Kate showed her a picture. She says Todd was a good man. He had his own vending machine business and was doing fine until he hurt his back. But he went to a loan shark named Dean Carbino, who came to Todd with a gun, demanding $15,000.

* * *

Carbino says he wouldn't have killed Todd for the money. Dead men can't pay anyone back. Kate heard that before from Wolf's bookie. And Carbino claims that Todd paid him the money. How? What was Todd into? Carbino didn't kill Todd. His alibi checks. Another dead end.

Castle is still Castle. He asks about Todd's financials. If Todd paid off Carbino, there must be a clue to how he did it. There is. Todd had cash deposits in his account of $9500, just under the limit reportable to the IRS. So did Chloe and Maya. All three of them also had small credit card charges for a place called KCBC. Finally, a connection besides 45 caliber bullet holes - and Castle found it. She tells him he hasn't won the bet yet. Aw, he says he missed her too. It's getting easier to make sure he does win the wager.

The three victims were clearly involved in something illegal. A sculptor, a chemistry teacher, and a vending machine operator. McCutcheon's vending machines! They were the kind that takes dollar bills. But to make $9500, he would need an awful lot of them - unless they somehow became larger denominations. That's it! They were counterfeiters. Maya made the plates. Todd provided the bills and Chloe figured out how to bleach them. Now she just has to make Castle see it.

* * *

The 227 that was on Chloe's hand is the code to let them into KCBC. Does Castle have to like the fan dancer so much? The unclad Kitty Canary also runs the place, along with her husband, Earl. Two of the counterfeiters were sometimes performers in the weird burlesque. One was a patron. Kitty gave both Chloe and Maya tattoos. Lanie was right about it being the same artist.

Kitty says there was an incident with Evan Murphy. He didn't like his girlfriend snake dancing. Kitty said Evan claimed he knew what Chloe was doing. Could he have known about the counterfeiting? He was her boyfriend.

* * *

Evan says he didn't kill Chloe and that he had no idea about the money.

* * *

Xander Doyle is the man Maya went to see in the Bowery. Castle recognizes his face from Maya's sculpture. Doyle is good looking but scummy. He claims Maya came to him to borrow a gun. He thinks she was into cooking meth because of the chemical smell on her.

* * *

Kate is hoping Castle will catch on to the counterfeiting, but he jumps on the drugs. Good thing Lanie can tell him there weren't any - but Doyle was right about the chemicals. Great, Lanie mentions bleach.

* * *

She and Castle are together at the murderboard again, just like they used to be. Evan Murphy had the murder weapon at his place, but something doesn't add up. It has no prints. Why would he wipe it and keep it around? It would make more sense to dump it.

Everything is right in front of Castle. He's so close. A joke about a sculptor, a chemistry teacher and a vending machine operator getting together to make a lot of money might do it. It does! He asks for Chloe's purse. There are $20 bills in there, all with the same serial number. Even she didn't see that! He might have reached the answer on his own. And they take the last step together. Counterfeiters need ink. A tattoo artist, Kitty Canary, is the last piece of the puzzle and they realize it at the same time.

* * *

Kitty's trying to leave. She has counterfeit money. She must have planted the gun on Evan Murphy to throw suspicion away from herself. Castle needs a weapon to defend himself while Kate goes after Kitty - in case Kitty or Earl comes back. She can't lose him now.

Gunshots! Castle's in the alley. His hair is full of glass slivers, but at least he hasn't been shot - yet. She's aiming at the perp. What's Castle doing? Why won't he get on the ground? Someone is behind her. They both shoot at the same time. At least he didn't lose his aim over the summer. Both suspects are down, and she has her partner back.

* * *

They agree he won the bet, even if she knows better. But he gives her an out. He'll still leave if she doesn't want him there. Oh God, no! She wants him to stay, even if she doesn't tell him how much.

She couldn't tell him then. She couldn't tell him a few hours ago. Castle, please come back to me again!


	32. Chapter 32

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 32

Deon Carver was a bail bondsman. He's never going to get anyone out of jail again. His office has been tossed by some kind of weird killer who called 911 and left the phone off the hook. Was the killer looking for money when Deon interrupted him? There's a footprint in the blood. CSU should be able to get something out of that. Castle wants to know why a calculator would cause feedback in Kate's walkie-talkie. It wouldn't, but a bug would. Castle knows precisely what kind of bug it is. Research for his books? No, nanny-cam. Of course. Protecting Alexis is always at the top of his list. It's what redeems him when he's at his most obnoxious.

* * *

The footprint is from a No Hassle Tassel. They were big in the eighties, but Castle remembers them anyway - and he teases her about being into shoes.

Castle wants to know why his daughter would want a Vespa. Is she really telling Castle it's what girls want when they realize they aren't going to get a pony? She's willing to bet Castle would have bought Alexis a pony if she wanted one. Alexis is probably after the same thing Kate wanted when she worked so hard to earn her Harley: power, and control. She can see Castle getting hot over his vision of her straddling her bike. This is fun, especially teasing him about the wild child stage girls go through. She can't really picture it happening to Alexis, but she's scaring Castle.

What is on that paper that was hidden in Deon Carver's shoe? It looks like a bunch of random lines. Brooke Carver, Deon's wife, says she has no idea either, but her hands shake as she stares at it. She claims Deon was trying to straighten someone out and that he didn't keep cash in the office. If not for money, did someone really tear the place apart looking for that crazy doodle? Castle says his Spidey-sense tells him the paper is involved. His instincts about such things can be more on-target than she'd like to admit. Whether it means anything or not, the page will go up on the murder board.

The argument Deon had was with Random Pierce. Random had said something about if he didn't give it back, he was going to take it. Could Random have meant the paper with the mystery marks? Why? Random skipped out on his bail and has a bench warrant. They can pick him up.

* * *

Castle spots him climbing down the building. She should have seen that. Of course, he runs. They always run. Who is in that car that heads him off? Whoever it is, is one hell of a driver. Wait, he's cuffing her suspect? What the hell! It's Mike Royce. Wow! He's a bounty hunter now and was after Random too.

Castle is immediately charmed by Royce. Who wouldn't be? Royce is teasing her about running in heels. He's still acting like her training officer, but he wants to collect his bounty. Not much chance he'll do that unless Random's alibi for Deon Carver's murder pans out. But she loves that he'll be coming to the precinct. It is terrific to see him again, even if he is spilling way too much to Castle.

* * *

Castle wants to skip her interrogation of Random so that he can listen to more stories from Royce. That's quite a bromance they have there, or is Castle just trying to get information about her? He is always asking about her history - even when he isn't worried about Alexis.

Unbelievable! Random's alibi is that he got caught shoplifting a book - the Da Vinci Code. But it's true. Royce can take him to Central Booking and collect his bounty. Royce wants Castle to take a picture for old times' sake. That's sweet. In front of the murderboard is as good a place as any.

* * *

They have a fingerprint hit on a Clifford Stuckey. He lives in the same apartment Random broke into. That can't be a coincidence.

* * *

Stuckey doesn't seem to be much of a threat. He uses a walker and can't hear much of anything. He says he was a bad man. She knows that from his sheet. He wants to help Random. He'll consider dropping the charges. Career criminals don't usually become that altruistic, but the guy seems pretty close to the end. Even criminals search for redemption - sometimes. But she has a niggling feeling that Stuckey was more interested in checking out the strange document they found on Deon than in helping Random. What the hell is it?

* * *

Lanie found a cross drawn in holy oil on Deon Carver's forehead. The killer gave him last rites? That makes no sense. But then neither did the 911 call.

* * *

Castle is still interested in her wild child phase. He wants to know just how wild she was. The truth isn't nearly as exciting as he thinks - at least not in her high school days. Between the heavy academic load at Stuyvesant and working to earn her bike, she didn't have a whole lot of free time to get into trouble. There were the nine months she spent dating the grunge musician. And later breaking into the trailer of the lead singer of her favorite band - and her idiotic time with Rogan O'Leary.

With her mother being murdered after her freshman year at college, she spent what was left of her teens and early twenties training to find the killer and taking care of her father until he got sober. She didn't have much in the way of adventures until Royce. Castle doesn't need to know that. It's more fun to have him picture her holding a whip to go with her leathers and boots.

Deon Carver gave several donations to the ministry of a priest named Aaron Low. When Ryan brings the priest in, Castle immediately spots the No Hassle Tassels. Low was in Deon's office. He must have been the one who gave Deon last rites. Did he also kill him?

* * *

Low insists that Deon was dead when he found him. The bondsman was having marital difficulties, and Low was counseling him. She's never understood what a priest would know about marriage and Brooke never mentioned any marital problems. Low says he doesn't know what the paper is either. He's got to be lying. A killer priest - and Random was stealing the Da Vinci Code. Could there be some weird connection there?

* * *

Royce shows up with a picture of her as a rookie, which he gleefully shares with Castle. Royce says he wants to buy her lunch as thanks for the bounty. Sure, she can… What? The boys found out who bugged Deon's office. Father Low, right? No! It was Brooke! Maybe Low wasn't lying about the Carvers having marital difficulties. She can't have lunch with Royce now, but she can buy him a beer later. She really has missed him. And there's so much she wants to tell him.

* * *

Brooke says that she bugged Deon's office to catch him cheating. That makes sense. But he wasn't. He was telling Father Low how much he loved his wife and wanted to heal their marriage.

Father Low does have an alibi, but he is connected to this case through more than counseling. He volunteered at Five Points Prison where he knew Random. Random is connected to Stuckey, too. His cellmate Malcolm Lloyd and Stuckey pulled off a jewel heist, and the jewels were never found. When Lloyd died, his last rites were administered by Father Low, but he'd told Low about a map to the gems. He wanted the priest to use them for the church. Stuckey is into this up to his neck! The old man must have killed Carver and and ransacked the office looking for the map.

What? He outran the boys? Castle is not going to let that go. Putting prune juice and adult diapers on their desks is a little funny. With Stuckey in the wind, she can have her beer with Royce while the boys go pick up Random and see what he knows about Stuckey and the heist.

* * *

She tells Royce about Coonan and how she had to kill him. He teases her out of her grief like he used to do - like Castle does now.

Random never made it to Central Booking! Royce was an investigating officer in the jewel robbery. It was all a con! He knew about the map! He was hanging around with her and Castle to see if they'd solved the puzzle. How could he betray her this way? Is that all men ever do, betray you?

* * *

Castle mumbles something about Mad Magazine, but he figured out the map - sort of. What does "under the gun" mean?

Royce is on the phone. She tells him she loved him. Did she? Or did she just need him as someone to hold on to while she was tumbling down the rabbit hole? Maybe both. The sound of his voice cuts like a knife, but she keeps him on long enough to get a trace.

* * *

He's gone. He chained Random to a radiator, with a bag of cheese puffs. He must have known she'd come.

* * *

Brooke Carver hadn't been listening to how much her husband loved her, she'd heard him trying to cut her out of the score. Another man betraying a woman. Brooke has brochures about a cemetery. The lines on the map are gravestones.

* * *

All the players are at the cemetery, and every one of them except Castle has a gun. Royce says his isn't pointed at her. It doesn't make much difference. He still betrayed everything they both were supposed to stand for.

Castle is digging for the treasure. She needs a distraction, and he gives her one. It's enough to take down Brooke and Stuckey. Royce hands her his cuffs to take him in. She can taste the blood her teeth draw from her lip as she snaps them in place.

* * *

There was no treasure. No, maybe there still is. Castle figures it out. The rest of the map was the tattoo on Lloyd's arm.

* * *

They're both tired and muddy when they uncover the jewels. Castle's a little disappointed that she's going to see they're returned to the rightful owner, but he's still grinning like a kid with a new toy. She can't resist hugging him. It feels so right to put her arms around him and sink into the comfort of his body. She never wants to let go.

She wishes she never had. Oh, God! She wishes she never had.


	33. Chapter 33

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 33

What is that expression on Castle's face? He says it's nothing. Come on, Castle. It's more than that. He says the victim, Linda Russo, is blond, strangled, and laid out as if she's asleep. The triple killer? It can't be! The MO doesn't match. Those women were killed in their apartments.

* * *

Linda's mother says that her daughter worked at the cable company. Some pervert had been staring at her. Could he have escalated to murder?

* * *

God! Lanie agrees with Castle! The rope marks and fibers are the same as they were with the triple killer. 3XK is back! Why? Will he do three murders in one week again?

* * *

Paul McArdle is their perv. He watered the plants at the cable company, and he's just divorced. Is that why Linda was the object of his obsession? He says he's innocent, But, if he is, then why is he dripping with sweat? He claims he has a medical condition. He also admits to watching Linda Russo at her apartment, but that's all. He says a security guard scared him off.

McArdle's alibi is solid. But there was no security guard. 3XK likes to masquerade. Could he have been in a guard's uniform?

* * *

Crap! The killer is keeping his schedule. There is another victim, Kim Foster, an interior designer. Someone saw a gas repairman. That could have been 3XK in another uniform, returning to his old MO.

Kate doesn't see anything suspicious in the apartment, but Castle does. The pillows on the couch are a mess. An interior designer wouldn't have left them that way. Castle would know that. He slept with one, didn't he? Her throat tightens as she thinks about it. But this isn't the time. There's a nametag in the sofa. If they can get prints off it, they may finally know who 3XK really is.

* * *

Because she worked for the cable company, Linda Russo knew someone dressed as a cable repairman was a phony. She'd reported what she saw, on a hotline. That's why 3XK's MO changed when he killed her! She would never have let him into her apartment. She would have recognized him. To come back four years later and kill someone who'd seen his face, takes a special ruthlessness, even for a serial killer. She wants to puke.

A partial print from the nametag is a match to Marcus Gates - who just got out of prison. That accounts for the four-year gap in killings. They have to stop that monster before he kills again. But they have no idea where he is.

* * *

Jerry Tyson, a first-time drug offender, was Gate's friend - if sociopaths like Gates even have friends. Not really. Jerry is afraid of Gates. Gates was his protector, a prison shot caller, but could have him killed if he turns on him. Gates could also take out Jerry's girlfriend, Donna Gallagher. Kate threatens to keep questioning him long enough so it looks like he talked. Terrorizing a petty con is better than having another woman murdered. Her threat pays off. Jerry looks like he's about to pee himself, and he knows about a bar Gates likes in the meatpacking district - Hog something. Couldn't be more appropriate. Could Gates be any more of a pig? No pig is much too good for him. Only humans are that evil.

* * *

She wants to beat the arrogant smirk off Gates' face. What he says about the captain, alone, should get him thrown in a hole, but he seems so sure they'll have to let him go. No way! The bartender told them where Gates lives. They have a warrant to search the place. The boys will find the evidence to put Gates away for good. She wishes it could be the deepest ring of hell, instead of Sing Sing.

Damn! Gates wants to see the warrant! That will give him a clue to everything in their playbook. And he can explain the nametag. He claims he handled it at his job at a prop house.

Oh no! The boys find nothing at Gate's apartment. She's sure he murdered Kim Foster, but she can't hold him. His alibi is on video. She can put a surveillance team on him with Montgomery's blessings, but that doesn't make her any less frustrated - or desperate.

Usually, when she's in quicksand like this, it's Castle that throws her a lifeline. It galls to admit she's grasping for one now, but she has nothing. Oh no! He doesn't have anything either. Wait, yes, he does! Jerry Tyson. At least one of them is thinking straight.

* * *

Jerry was beaten up at the prison. He's terrified. Too bad for him, but it gives her the advantage. To get 3XK, Kate will promise anything. She'll get Jerry early release and protect him and his girlfriend. Tyson says that Gates attacked Sarah Townsend, the sixth victim. Yes, Sarah's father came to see the captain. Gates knew he'd been seen - that must have been by Linda Russo. He hit someone over the head with a bottle and got himself sent to prison for four years. It was the perfect hideout for him. As a power player, he could do anything he wanted.

* * *

Ryan is Tyson's nursemaid at the motel. Jerry seems to be comfortable with that. He tells Ryan that Gates worked with partners.

* * *

Castle's coming through for her again. He figures out how Gates pulled off his alibi. The bastard used stuff from the prop house to create a double for himself. That sheen of sweat! Faux Gates was McArdle. He wasn't afraid of Gates, they were working together! Oh sh*t! Gates escaped surveillance.

* * *

Gates is attacking Donna Gallagher! He even has the damn rope in his pocket. They have him! But he's as arrogant as ever, and all they've got him on him is assault. She needs leverage.

* * *

Paul McArdle is in the hospital. He had a heart operation - a very expensive heart operation. What? Gates sent flowers! Gates actually cares about McArdle! She didn't think he'd care about anyone, but McArdle's the leverage she needs.

It's all over. She gets Gates' confession. She's just starting to breathe again. Ryan and Castle went to turn Jerry Tyson loose from protection, but they're not back yet. The hairs on the back of her neck are standing up, but the captain's sure Castle and Ryan are fine. He thinks they're just out having a beer and invites her to go with him do the same.

She couldn't turn down the captain, but something still doesn't feel right. If Castle celebrates solving a case, it's usually with her. Oh God! Martha thinks there was something wrong with the phone conversation she had with Castle, and neither of them can reach him now. Kate can't contact Ryan either. They were just with Tyson. Was it Tyson all along? Was Gates just his cover?

* * *

She's using her siren and lights and she's flooring it. Why can't she get to the motel any faster? The air returns to her lungs. Castle's tied up but alive. Thank God! He says Ryan needs an ambulance, but Ryan denies it. Hell of a time to go macho. Ryan's act doesn't last long. Tyson got Ryan's gun and Ryan's badge. Damn! More tools to commit his next murder. Ryan's silent and beaten as the EMTs check him for a concussion.

Castle isn't doing much better than Ryan. He isn't making jokes; not even dark ones. The spark in his eyes is gone. She hands him coffee and sits as close to him as she can, her thigh against his. She can feel him trembling in frustration - and guilt. There's not much else she can do. She know's the pain he's feeling. She's feeling it too. He believes he should have done something - anything - to keep Tyson from getting away. He knows she understands, but she can't make things any better for him. She wishes she could, just to see the smallest hint of the Castle she knows, the man who finds light in the darkest corners. She reaches for his hand.

His fingers curled around hers. They were cold with regret - like hers are now. If she'd kept holding on to him, she wouldn't be desperately trying to keep her grip on unforgiving stone now.


	34. Chapter 34

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 34

Everyone knows what? What the hell are Espo and Castle talking about? Whatever it is, Castle looks upset, even if he denies it. The magic shop seems to cheer him up. They have a love of magic in common. She inherited hers from her grandfather. Who knows where Castle gets his, but he seems to spend his life finding wonder in things. She gets Castle going when she mentions her ice cube trick. That does anything but cool him down.

Zalman Drake was in a water tank used for escapes. It wouldn't be the first time an illusion went tragically wrong, but that's not what Lanie thinks happened. There's a suicide note, but Drake's assistant Eliza insists he wouldn't kill himself - and not in the tank. He had too much respect for magic. The shop is in financial trouble. Drake was on the verge of losing it. Kate's seen suicides over business failures before. Eliza says Drake told her that he had something going that would save it. He'd often left in the middle of the day to work on it. Kate's heard pipedreams like that before, too.

Eliza remembers someone who might have wanted to hurt Drake. She'll have to check that out. And the white van that was parked by the shop will have to be traced too. Zalman has a brother, Edmund, in Poughkeepsie. Could he know anything about Zalman's death? If it wasn't a suicide, at least she has some leads to follow.

* * *

Castle seems to be back to his old man-child self. He has a pair of those X-ray specs that were always advertised on the back pages of comic books. He must have picked them up at the magic shop. OK, she can be in on the joke. She teases him about seeing her navel ring – not that she has one. Obviously, the specs are not working as advertised. If they did, a lot of pre-pubescent boys - and men who just act like them, would be in nirvana.

Jerome Aspenall's suit against Zalman was thrown out, and Jerome is not happy about it. He says Zalman ruined his life by reading his mind. She kind of likes when Castle reads hers - up to a point. Zalman revealed Jerome's affair at a charity event in front of an audience that included Jerome's wife. Zalman made a subject disappear. It sounds like he made both Jerome's wife and mistress disappear too. That would be a double motive for murder. Unfortunately for the case, Jerome was in a bar drowning his sorrows during the kill zone. He might have threatened Zalman, but he didn't kill him - if anyone except Zalman put an end to his life.

Somehow, she just can't resist lifting Castle's cell phone. Maybe she just likes how it feels when she puts her hand in his pocket. She shouldn't. She's with Josh - more or less. It's not like he's around much of the time. Gina's brittle features appear on the screen. Castle declines the call. What's that about? Is that why he was upset? Are things not going well in their relationship. She's ashamed of herself for doing it, but she's hoping their affair is on the rocks. She can't see them together again. She can't see Castle with anyone but - never mind. Josh is her boyfriend. Who wouldn't want a tall, handsome, motorcycle-riding, philanthropic cardiac surgeon? Doesn't she?

There were fingerprints on that suicide note that didn't belong to Zalman. They belong to a street magician named Chuck Russell who Zalman got tossed from the magical community for using C-4. Now he's performing for whatever people will throw in his hat.

* * *

Castle puts in a buck. Chuck should be glad to get anything for the lame trick he performed, but he's not grateful. When she flashes her badge, he disappears in a puff of smoke. Nice try, but she learned how that was done before she was 12. Alakazam, jackass!

* * *

Chuck says he didn't even know Zalman was dead. That's hard to believe with his prints on the suicide note. It wasn't just a suicide note. It was a magic trick if an elementary one. Chuck's invoice shows up under UV light. Chuck got Zalman C-4, the same thing that Zalman got him banned for using. Why would Zalman want the powerful explosive, himself?

* * *

Zalman was creating illusions for Tobias Strange. Castle is practically jumping up and down in anticipation of meeting the master magician. She's a little excited herself. Magical skills aside, Tobias is a babe. The French accent doesn't hurt either.

Did the swords pierce the box before Tobias was ready! Did he get killed! No, just an illusion, but one good enough to put her heart in her mouth. Did Zalman create it for Tobias? Zalman worked for Tobias for 15 years but had been working for someone else for the last month. That fits with what Eliza said. Tobias also claims he doesn't use C-4 because it's too dangerous. That fits too. Zalman was making something for someone else, but for whom? Tobias says Zalman had a workshop, but Zalman kept its location secret. She'll find it somehow.

* * *

Lanie says Zalman didn't commit suicide. Zalman was murdered, asphyxiated. That's not much of a surprise now. Whoever killed him wrote a suicide note on Chuck's invoice, thinking it was a blank piece of paper. And somehow Zalman was exposed to organophosphates. But rabbit fur in Zalman's mouth? A vengeful rabbit. That image tickles Castle. It's nice to see him smiling.

* * *

It took getting info from a very soggy Metro Card, but she and the boys tracked down Zalman's workshop. Castle arrives at the precinct just in time to go with her. It should be his kind of place.

* * *

Of course, there's a concealed entrance. That jibes with everything else Zalman did. The place is like Disneyland to Castle - playing with all the magic equipment. He calls it Zalman's Fortress of Solitude. There is a weird outline in paint on the wall, it looks like a knife and fork. What is that about? Her grandfather would have liked Castle. That sense of wonder in anyone over six is pretty rare. Castle spots wheelchair tracks. What was someone doing there in a wheelchair?

Is that Zalman coming out of the iron maiden? No, it's his brother Edmund. They're twins. He wants to know where Zalman is. He doesn't know his brother is dead. This is the gut-wrenching part. She has to tell him.

Zalman asked Edmund to help him hide some money. Edmund knew something was wrong. He had a twin connection with Zalman.

She wouldn't believe in connections like that except for the link she has with Castle. They do seem to share the same brain a lot of the time. Nothing like that ever happens with her and Josh. It didn't happen with any of her other boyfriends either.

Castle doesn't want to believe Zalman is dead. He is always thinking in movie plots - like Dead Ringer. Zalman killed his brother so he could collect his own insurance, inherit his own magic shop and have Edmund's wife and children? That would make sense if it didn't mean that Zalman would have to live as an accountant in Poughkeepsie. Castle does acknowledge that little plot hole.

* * *

The wheelchair tracks belong to Thaddeus Magnus. He had been making mechanical devices for Zalman's magic tricks. He made him a mechanical arm. What for?

They need to look at explosions. Maybe if they find out who was involved with one, they can figure out who killed Zalman.

* * *

She and Castle really are connected! They both realize that the organophosphates came from jet oil. And the man who was killed was billionaire philanthropist Christian Dahl. She has to look at the wife. Isn't it always the wife, especially when she stands to inherit billions?

* * *

There are no billions. Christian Dahl was perpetrating a giant Ponzi scheme and was about to be indicted. Did he hire Zalman to kill him? That makes no sense, why go down in a plane when he could have used a gun?

Castle knows. Christian wanted Zalman to fake his death. That's why Zalman needed the mechanical arm, to make it look like Christian was on board the plane, operating the controls. It was an elaborate illusion, but Zalman pulled it off. And Christian killed him for it.

Christian is probably long gone. No, he couldn't resist going to his own funeral.

* * *

And she couldn't resist putting her hand on Castle's face to turn him in Christian's direction.

It's no crime to go to your own funeral. She and Castle can't prove Christian killed Zalman. They need a confession, and they aren't going to get one unless…

* * *

Zalman died because of an illusion, and now his murderer was exposed by one. She had the help of Tobias Strange and Edmund passing for Zalman, as he had in the magic act they'd had as kids. There is satisfying symmetry there.

The triumph drains from Castle's face as he finally takes a call from Gina. She isn't really trying to eavesdrop, is she? But she hears him break it off. His voice is low with resignation and sadness.

He needs comfort. She'd love to throw her arms around him, but she can't do that. There's still Josh. The comfort food truck and the flower trick will have to do.

* * *

The sweet froth of the whipped cream that topped his hot chocolate is clinging to Castle's lip. She'd love to kiss it off, but she can't cheat on Josh - even if he is hardly ever there for her. Castle says he was never really in love with Gina. Yeah, she knew that. The light she sees in his in his eyes when he looks at Alexis or even his mother wasn't there for Gina - just the mask of a forced smile. He wants magic. He has always wanted it. So has she.

They had it together. They could have had it forever. But she threw it away.


	35. Chapter 35

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 35

She's still shaking from the call from John Raglan. She's supposed to meet him alone, but she can't. She needs Castle - more than she's ever needed him before. She doesn't have to say much when she shows up at his door. Just mentioning finding her mother's killer is enough. She looks at him, and she's still trembling inside, but at least her hands are steady, even if her heart isn't.

* * *

Raglan's suspicious of Castle. She says he's someone she trusts. He is. She never realized it quite so much before this moment. Raglan keeps talking about the coffee. He's dying? That's too bad, but her mother is already dead. He wants to get something off his chest before it damns him like Jacob Marley in _A Christmas Carol_. There's no reason she should do him any favors - he didn't do any for her - but she needs to know about her mother.

What sins did he hide behind his badge? He did what he was told, writing off her mother's case as a random killing. Told by whom? He's giving her background. Screw that! She just wants a name. The shot comes before she can get one.

Castle thinks she's hit. That would almost have been better than losing Raglan before he could tell her the truth.

* * *

She wants Castle out of the line of fire, but not too far from her side. The captain just wants her to follow the evidence. She always has, but can she do it this time? Rage and grief are tearing her insides out.

Castle is shaken but not because of Raglan, because of the blood on her shirt. He won't go home. He'd be safer if he did - but thank God he's staying.

* * *

McCallister must know what Raglan was doing 19 years ago. Partners are closer than lovers. Wow! Where did that come from? Raglan was ferrying drugs for Vulcan Simmons! Ryan says Vulcan Simmons ran the drug trade in Washington Heights. Wait! That's where Coonan killed her mother. Her mother was running a campaign to get drugs off the streets in the heights. Coonan was into drugs. Did Simmons use him to kill her mother?

Simmons is arrogant and infuriating. Trash! How can he say that about her mother?

* * *

The captain is furious. He has a right to be. She shouldn't have lost it with Simmons. She should be a better cop than that. Montgomery says Simmons was playing her. He's right about that too, but he can't take her off the case. He did. He's sending her home. Castle is calling after her, but she can't talk to him now. If she opens her mouth, she won't be able to stop screaming.

* * *

Josh isn't there. He's never there. At least the tears have stopped.

Castle is bringing her flowers. That's really sweet. He's never been in her new apartment before. He looks good in it. He wants to work on her mother's case. He's willing to sneak into the precinct to get the files. As if she hasn't memorized every word. She shows him her hidden murderboard. He asks if Josh knows about it. No. She never even thought of showing it to Josh - just Castle.

He wants to see her mom's personal papers. She went through all of them a hundred times nine years ago, but he's right, things have changed. And she might have missed something. He sees a lot of things that she misses. Maybe he will notice something she didn't.

He's looking at the pictures. He thinks she's adorable, but the walk down memory lane isn't helping. Wait! it is! He notices that four photographs are missing. In all that time, she never did. The negatives are there. They can bring the images up on her computer. Why would her mother take pictures of the alley where she was killed, and have them developed more than a week before she died? Something must have happened there.

Montgomery won't let her back in the precinct to find out, Castle is going to get the files, even if he has to go around Montgomery. He's really sticking his neck out for her.

What is Montgomery doing at her apartment? He says the sniper has been watching her. Raglan's killer is a professional assassin. Does Castle know? Montgomery says he does. He caught him going through some old files in the bathroom. That's so Castle. But if the captain figured out what Castle was doing, he isn't saying so. Montgomery is putting a protective detail on her, but he still won't let her come back to the precinct. She doesn't want Castle to get hurt, but right now she desperately needs her partner - and he really is her partner - even more than Royce ever was.

Castle did manage to snag the right file. There was another murder in that alley. An undercover agent named Bob Armen was killed. John Raglan arrested an enforcer named Joe Pulgatti for the crime. Castle thinks Pulgatti should know something. That's more than she had before.

* * *

Pulgatti says he didn't kill Armen. He didn't even know Armen was an agent. They were friends. It wasn't a family war hit either. There was a truce because men were going around kidnapping members of all five families, beating them up and holding them for ransom. Pulgatti says they tried to grab Armen and things went sideways. The only people in that alley were Pulgatti, Armen, and the three masked kidnappers. No one else saw Pulgatti there. The killer had to be a cop. Raglan? Could that be part of the guilt he was carrying? Her mother was going to help Pulgatti fight his conviction for killing Armen. Was that why she and the others were murdered?

* * *

The captain is pissed that she disobeyed a direct order, but he wants to know what she and Castle found. He's willing to let her bring in McCallister again. If Raglan was a kidnapper, McCallister would have been too. But who was the third cop?

* * *

Sh*t! McCallister is actually proud of what he and Raglan were doing. He says they called it incarceration. They got the mobsters off the street and charged a very high bail. Where did the money go? McCallister doesn't look wealthy. Neither did Raglan. Was someone else pulling the strings? There was someone else. McCallister says they woke the dragon, but he's too scared to say who the bastard is.

The boys have come through with a name for Raglan's killer. It's Hal Lockwood - and he had a girlfriend. She's one of two Jolenes. She and Castle take one, the boys will handle the other.

* * *

Her Jolene is dead. Espo says he and Ryan are… What was that! An explosion? There's no answer on their cellphones. The killer must have gotten to them. She and Castle need to figure out where Lockwood is - now! Castle's got it, Jolene's cellphone bill. They've got a number, and they've got an address.

* * *

What do they do now? Lockwood's got a guard. If they approach or call in SWAT, the boys will be dead before they can reach them. She needs a crazy idea. Castle's got one.

Playing drunken lovers isn't working. She could shoot the guard. Lockwood might hear it but what choice does she have? Castle has one. He knocks her hand away from her gun. That kiss. God, she's never felt a kiss like that! She could melt into the pavement, but the guard is a foot away and smiling. She can take him out!

Castle says that was amazing. He says he meant the way she took the guard down. Was that really what he meant? There's no time to think about it. They have to go after the boys. Damn! She wishes she'd brought a backup gun for Castle. She hasn't been thinking straight. He needs to stay back.

Lockwood's thug is about to shoot Ryan. Her shot stops him, but where's Lockwood? Castle leaped down on him, and he's beating his face in. Lockwood is out. Castle's hand is covered in blood and swelling fast, but he says he's never been better. He'll feel the pain when the adrenaline fades. You always do.

* * *

Castle's in the back of an ambulance, playing with the bandage on his hand. He never can leave anything alone. Thank God for that. He asks about Ryan and Esposito. He really cares about the boys. And he really is the one who saved their lives - and hers. The least she can do is wrap his hand for him again - and thank him for having her back. He says, "always."

* * *

Lockwood won't tell her who his boss is, but she won't give up.

She should have given up. What difference does it make now that she'll be following her mother to the grave? Did "always" mean Castle would always have her back or always love her? If she'd asked, if she'd listened, she might be feeling the warmth of more of his kisses instead of the chill of the wind and cold stone.


	36. Chapter 36

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 36

A stripped cab - with a body, Amir Alhabi, the driver. There's no money in the taxi. Robbery? Lanie says Amir's fingers were broken one by one. He was tortured. What thief bothers to do that? They usually want to get away as fast as they can. Castle is wondering if Amir hid his money in the cab and the killer tortured him for the location. It is possible. The upholstery is torn up as if someone was looking for something.

* * *

Alhabi is from Syria. Could his death have been a hate crime? That would account for the torture, but not the signs of a search.

What was Ryan saying? She's paying too much attention to her phone. Josh wants to leave - again. This time to go to Haiti. It's not as if they don't need the help. The pictures she's seen of the devastation there are horrific. But it seems like he's never there for her. She's on his list somewhere way below mission trips and conferences to learn new surgical techniques. There should be nothing wrong with that, but it leaves a hole - and she has enough gaping wounds inside her already.

Amir wrote down some numbers. The boys can't make anything out of them. That's just the kind of puzzle Castle likes to solve, but they need to go see Amir's wife.

* * *

Nazihah is clinging to her baby. Kate can understand that. The infant is all she has left of her husband. Amir's cousin, Jamal, is next to her, trying to offer some comfort. He and Amir were business partners in the cab, but Jamal didn't drive it. He has a moving company. Amir was worried about money. He and Jamal were making money on the cab, but not that much. The baby needs an operation. Amir was working as hard as he could to get it for her. Kate can see Castle's sympathy for that. As far as she can tell, there's nothing he wouldn't do for Alexis either.

* * *

Leeman Jones was selling the parts from Amir's cab. He says he wasn't the killer. It doesn't make a lot of sense that he would be. Car strippers go for speed. They grab the parts and take off before they get spotted. And why would he torture Amir? He wouldn't tear the seats up. They would have been worth money. He says he saw someone there, who was doing it. Someone was looking for something. Probably the same person who tortured Amir.

Josh is calling again. He's still going to Haiti, and there's no way he can make things any better between them.

* * *

Kevin McCann, a driver who'd been renting shifts in Amir's cab, had been fighting with him. He says it was over money because Amir had been charging too much for his shift, but had a wad of bills in his pocket, at least five thousand dollars. If Amir was struggling to pay for an operation for his daughter that makes no sense. Nothing about this case makes sense.

* * *

The cab had cameras. They should be able to see who killed Amir - except that the hard drives are missing. The crime was not just a robbery. Who would bug a cab? There's a lot more going on - but damned if she knows what it is.

* * *

Oh God! Josh is at the precinct. Castle can see something is going on with her and Josh. She doesn't want to talk about it with him. Her feelings are too close to the surface.

Amir had $10,000 transferred into his account. Why? Could he have been blackmailing someone? Were they looking for whatever he was holding over them? Why do that if they'd paid? To end the demands?

Amir had a passenger who rode with him for 26 minutes, just circling back to the same place. Why?

* * *

What? Amir had the cameras put in himself. Who was he spying on? Passengers? And what was worth torturing and killing him for?

* * *

They have a picture of the mystery passenger, and he had a gun on him.

* * *

Nazihah doesn't know where the $10,000 came from. She didn't even know Amir had it. But she recognizes the man who was in the cab. She doesn't know him, but she'd seen him talking to Amir.

* * *

The canvass turns up Mystery Passenger's favorite coffee house. She's got him. She's got his gun too, a nine-millimeter like the one that killed Amir. He's Fariq Yusef from the Syrian Consulate. Damn! He not only has a permit for the weapon, but he also has complete diplomatic immunity.

* * *

Yusef is the head of the Syrian Secret police. That would make him a great suspect - if he didn't have an alibi.

They're back to square one again. No, they're not! Castle figures out the number that the boys couldn't decode. It's the address to a storage facility. Amir had a unit there. Is the secret inside?

* * *

It's radioactive! She has to get Castle away!

* * *

How much radiation were and Castle exposed to? They'll just have to wait in the isolation tent until emergency services can figure it out.

Castle wants to talk. He knows that something is wrong between her and Josh. She can see it in his face when he asks her how Josh is. At this point, she might as well tell him. As usual, Castle is in the thick of it with her - and Josh isn't. She needs someone who's there for her - always. That isn't Josh. If she and Josh break up, could it be Castle? Maybe they can…

They're OK. There were only traces of radiation in the unit. But there had been more, from a bomb, a dirty bomb. She needs to get to work. They need to find it before it can be set off and contaminate the city.

* * *

Who's the guy with the stick up his ass? It's Agent Fallon from Homeland Security. He's clearly taken charge, and he wants Castle out. Is Castle bluffing about the governor? Castle seems to know everybody. Whether he is or not, at least she still has a partner.

Fallon wants her to join him interrogating Nazihah. Fallon really is a douche, threatening to take away the poor woman's baby. There should be a line somewhere. Handing Nazihah his handkerchief doesn't make up for what he put the widow through. But he is right. Even if Nazihah is innocent, they have to assume she's guilty. He put surveillance on her. He's got a National Security Letter. He can do whatever the hell he wants.

Jamal has the bomb and has disappeared. They have him on video wheeling it away, but they're no further along than they were.

Castle thinks they're on the wrong track. He doesn't think Jamal knew it was a bomb. He's right, the man wasn't nervous. He acted like he was wheeling any other crate his moving company might have been hired to transport. And Castle has a point about the money wired into Amir's account. It came from a bank near Bagram Air Base that was patronized by the military. It's not a source that a terrorist - or a Syrian - would use. Whoever sent it to Amir could have been laying a false trail.

He wants to know her take on Fallon. No, the DHS agent isn't open minded. What Castle wants to do makes sense. And it's not as if she has anything better. She can cover for Castle while he hunts down Yusef on his daily trip to the coffee shop.

* * *

Yusef said Amir thought he had sent him the money to pressure him into coming back to work on the Syrian weapons program. Yusef believes that Amir had no idea where the money came from. He wasn't a terrorist. Someone was using him as a patsy. Fallon won't listen. He throws her and Castle off the task force. Too bad Castle really was bluffing about the governor.

* * *

There's no way she and Castle are quitting. He managed to snap a picture of the murderboard before they were escorted out. Of course, he has a projector, and their screen has a luxury thread count. His loft has everything the precinct has - except the smell of sweat and bad cologne.

They can solve Amir's murder. Castle doesn't think Amir had the cameras to spy on his passengers, he was spying on another driver. Amir followed a route Kevin McCann took; a trail that leads to a warehouse.

* * *

The bomb is in the back of a van! Damn! If Fallon hadn't had his head up his ass and just listened to Castle, they could have had the whole team there, and the nightmare would be over. It's just getting worse. Someone is shooting at them. They need to take cover. There's a steel door. They have to move.

It's a freezer container, and they're locked in - with Jamal's body. He wasn't a terrorist. He was used, just like Amir. And the real bombers are going to use his body to take the fall.

There's no way out. Are she and Castle going to freeze to death in there? There is so much she should have told him. He's giving her what heat he can from his own body. It's not enough. She is dying. At least it's in his arms. But she needs to thank him for being there, always. She can hear him begging her to stay with him, but she can't answer.

* * *

Josh? He didn't go to Haiti! He knew she was missing. He's helping her, and he's helping Castle. Thank God Castle's going to be all right too. Is he still as cold as she is, even wrapped in blankets? They'll get warmer, and they'll have a lot more to worry about than being cold if they don't find that bomb.

Fallon is willing to let them come back on the task force. Willing? If he hadn't been such a douche, they wouldn't need a task force now. But there's no time for recriminations. They have less than 10 hours before the counter on the bomb she and Castle saw, reaches zero. The bomb is gone, and they have no idea where it's been taken. Fallon wants Josh to clear her for duty. It will give her a chance to say goodbye.

* * *

Castle brought coffee. She doesn't need caffeine but the warmth, both from Castle and the hot brew, are welcome.

McCann's address is a dead end. He wasn't even Kevin McCann. They know where the real one is - Arlington Cemetery. The suspect's identity was stolen. Castle wants to know why someone would take the identity of a dead soldier. Usually, false identities come from babies who died soon after birth. No one knew them. But many people knew McCann. He served five tours of duty. Could the bomber have known him? Could they have served together?

* * *

Castle is right again. They not only served together, the bomber is Radford Hayes. He was Kevin's best friend. He was furious at Kevin's death and believed the country was forgetting the war and the people fighting it. Castle can understand how Radford could feel that way. So, can she, but it's not an excuse to blow up the city.

* * *

They can trace Hayes through the phone number he gave Kevin's sister. They take him down, but he's not talking.

* * *

She and Fallon have to break Hayes. Fallon is out of bounds, even more than he was with Nazihah. His wife died on 9/11, and he's willing to do anything to prevent that kind of catastrophe from happening again. He points his gun at Hayes, threatening to shoot him. She's horrified, but Hayes thinks he'll die for his country. He's willing to do it to bring people's attention back to the war. It's a twisted kind of patriotism, and he is taking it to the end.

They still have no idea where the bomb is. Castle realizes that Hayes' cohorts will need another Syrian patsy if they are going to frame terrorists for the bomb.

* * *

Nazihah! Her surveillance team has been shot. She and the baby are gone, and someone left a phony terrorist letter on the table.

* * *

They're running out of time, and they have nothing. But Castle does. He has Fariq Yusef's card. They may not have been the only ones keeping Nazihah under surveillance. Castle is like a character in one of his books, getting information out of Yusef. Sh*t! Fallon almost blows it, but Yusef gives them the brick building.

* * *

Hayes' men were holding the baby to get Nazihah to drive the van. She's heading for Times Square. She goes along with Castle about picking the route. No! He screwed up! A helicopter spotted the van. No. That was the wrong one! Castle was right!

Nazihah is frantic. When she ignores Kate's pleas to pull over, Kate has to force her to the side of the road. It takes precious seconds to assure the weeping mother that her baby is safe. Castle finds the bomb. There are less than two minutes left. BSU won't be able to make it in time. She can't get a picture of the bomb that helps, to Fallon in time, either.

This really is the end. She and Castle are less than a foot from the bomb. Even if they ran, it wouldn't make a difference. She reaches for his hand. At least they're together. He looks at her and pulls all the wires.

Castle did it! He saved the two of them and the city- more people than Josh could save in a lifetime. When she puts her arms around him, she never wants to let go. She has to - and pretty quickly. They're standing in front of a radioactive load of Cobalt 60.

* * *

What was Castle going to say to her after Montgomery's impromptu celebration? He started to say he'd been thinking, and she doesn't believe it was about going home and getting some rest. Oh. Josh is here. Castle must have seen him.

Josh is holding her, but all she wants is for Castle to come back.

She still does.


	37. Chapter 37

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 37

The captain and Castle are already there. They're trying to shield her, but she can't leave any more than Royce could. He was shot in the leg, but he was still trying to get away. He couldn't make it. There was a paper in his pocket, a letter to her. She scans it, but there's no way she can handle those words right now.

Why did Royce come back to New York? She was more comfortable knowing that he was 3,000 miles away. She hadn't abandoned him: he was just out of reach. And what did he get himself into? Whoever killed him used a silencer. That means premeditation.

* * *

The boys are trying to help. They're not doing a bad job. The killer, Neil McCauley, followed Royce from L.A. Castle immediately recognizes the name as the character Robert DeNiro played in _Heat_. Is there a movie he doesn't know? McCauley flew to New York, bringing a silencer with him, bought a cheap gun and flew back to L.A. two hours after killing Royce. He was in the city just long enough to commit a murder. Why? The only way she can find out is by going to L.A.

The captain won't let her go. He's not stopping her that easily. She'll go on her own and the hell with him. She can tell Castle knows what she plans to do, but she ducks him. He's not getting in her way, either.

She finally reads Royce's letter. He says he'd turned back on a righteous path. He hopes that someday she'll forgive him. She already has, but it's too late now to tell him. Getting his killer is the only thing she can do to make things right.

* * *

How did she get upgraded to first class? Of course, Castle. She should have known. She doesn't feel much like taking the Champagne he offers, but it is good to know he isn't going to try to talk her out of tracking down Royce's killer. He wants to help. He always does. He promises they'll fly under the radar.

* * *

How is a red Ferrari flying under the radar? And he wants her to share his suite? It would make sense, but can she be that close for that long without…? No matter how rough things are with Josh, she's not a cheater, is she? She'll have to keep her door - and her heart - firmly closed and her mind on the case.

* * *

Royce lives in a mansion? How? The place belongs to Gene Simmons, source of jarring music and one of her better Halloween costumes. Simmons is flirting with her. Good. She can use that to get information. Royce helped him out and was living in his guest house. So, Royce really was on a righteous path. He was working for a would-be starlet named Violet Young.

Violet is shooting a commercial at the same studio where they're shooting Castle's movie. Another one of Castle's connections coming in handy.

* * *

Violet didn't show up for work. A woman trying to claw her way up in the business wouldn't miss out on a chance like that unless she was in trouble - or dead.

Eww! The characters playing Raley and Ochoa are just creepy!

* * *

Dissolving bullets? Why was Royce shot with dissolving shells?

* * *

She shouldn't be breaking into Violet's place, but she has no choice. An airline itinerary. Violet went to New York with Royce. He was trying to protect her, so he took her to his home ground. What are all those articles and pictures for? What does the voice on the digital recorder mean? Oh no, the L.A.P.D.

They're caught. The snarky cop is Detective Kyle Seeger of Robbery/Homicide. He thinks that a phone call from Montgomery may be worse than arresting them. He could be right. The captain won't let her explain, and there's not much she could say that Montgomery doesn't already know. He wants her and Castle to get on the next plane back to New York. Seeger wants them gone too. Hell no!

Maybe the boys can find Violet Young. Wow! They have a photo of the killer! Sometimes she forgets just how good they are.

Castle's phone search found the man in a photo that was in Violet's apartment. He's Charles Kelvin, a weapons manufacturer. The actress was studying his interests. That's why she had all those articles.

* * *

Kelvin doesn't want his surfing hour interrupted, but the recording of his voice gets his attention. It's the key to a high-security vault.

The dissolving bullets were there, and now they're not. Whoever killed Royce must have stolen them. They were of no use to the military, but on the black market, they will be a valuable commodity. Violet got herself mixed up with some very dangerous people. That's why she needed Royce - and why Royce is dead.

* * *

With the couch, the wine and Castle's willing ear, she can't help telling him about Royce. She feels so close to him, and not just because they're gazing straight into each other's eyes. He says he thought she was a mystery he was never going to solve and that he's still amazed at the depth of her strength, her heart - and her hotness. She doesn't feel very strong now. She knows where her heart is, and it's not with a cardiac surgeon. It's with the man right in front of her. If she just leaned in, she could have what she wants, what she's been wanting for so long.

She can't. She needs to go. He calls after her. He wants her too. She can't go back. There's still Josh. Her hand overrules her head and reaches for the handle of her door. Castle's gone. The door to his room is closing. It's only a short walk away. She could knock on it. He'd let her in. She knows he would. No. Not while she's still with Josh. Not while her soul is wrapped too tightly to open to someone she could really love. She should just find Royce's murderer. That's why she's in Los Angeles.

* * *

The wondrous concierge, Maurice, gets her a murderboard. There's a security guard, Reggie Walsh, involved somehow with the theft.

Damn! Detective Seeger is at the door. She needs to hide the murderboard. Seeger demands to know why her name came across his desk in reference to the theft of the bullets. She's not about to tell him.

Castle wonders if it was a good idea to cut Seeger out. Maybe it wasn't, but she just wants to get Royce's killer, and she doesn't need the L.A.P.D. in her way.

* * *

The crew shooting Castle's movie can help. She's even having a good time pulling off the con. So is Castle. Hell, the interrogation room on the set is better than the one at the precinct.

Reggie was just paid to take a cigarette break, but he heard the name, Russell Ganz. Could that be Royce's killer?

* * *

Ganz's friend is hunting Violet. Maurice really is amazing. He has a network that knows precisely where Ganz is. He earned the $100 Castle is handing him. Castle wants to call the L.A.P.D. now, but the sting they pulled worked. She's going to try another one.

Her swimsuit makes her look almost nude. Good. She'll rise out of the pool right in front of Ganz.

She's got the bastard's attention. She's reeling him in. Damn! What's Castle doing? She can't let Ganz see him. She tried too hard and blew it. It's Castle's fault. No, it really isn't. He was doing his job too. He got a picture of Ganz's recent call list. She wants to kiss him, but if she does, she may not be able to stop. Castle urges her again to call Seeger. Now she can.

* * *

The robbery detective is pissed. Castle offers him a luxury robe. No help there. But Seeger knows about Ganz's call to his accomplice, Mannis, in New York. They have the number. They can call and rile him up, maybe get him to flip on Ganz.

Why is Espo answering Mannis' phone? He shot Mannis. She won't be shedding any tears over that, especially since the boys get Mannis to spill about the sale of the bullets taking place on Santa Monica Pier. They have 15 minutes to get there. It's going to be close.

* * *

They found the bullets but where is Ganz? That cigar is like one he was smoking at the pool. She spots him. He isn't going to get away from her. She can shoot Ganz as an escaping felon. It would be a righteous shot. She gets him in the leg. She could have killed him, but she needs to let him know she's avenging Royce. Now he does. She is the hell Royce told him would rain down on him. She's so close to killing him now. Castle is shouting her name. She pulls back. Would she have shot again if she hadn't heard Castle's voice? She'll never know, but Royce will have justice.

* * *

Time to go home. They're back in first class. Castle is comfortable there. He's asleep. She couldn't sleep if she tried.

She unfolds Royce's letter again. She can hear the sweet gravel in his voice as she reads it. Royce wrote that she and Castle have something real and she shouldn't put her job ahead of her heart. He says that the last thing she wants is to look back on her life and wonder "if only."

Oh God, he was so right! She should have listened.


	38. Chapter 38

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 38

She can't stop touching her mother's ring, the reminder that she still hasn't found the man behind Lockwood. Ryker is flirting with her, but she's not at the prison for a date. What? Lockwood is in the general population! He'll be after McCallister just like he was Raglan!

Her heart is pounding as she runs, the prison guards trailing behind her. They're too late. McCallister is dead. Lockwood is just standing there with his hands up. Why not? He has nothing to lose. How many life sentences can he serve? What more can the law do to him? She would flay the skin from his body an inch at a time if she could, but she has no power to punish him.

The man holding Lockwood's leash can be the only real target for her fury, and now she has a new trail to follow. Someone had to engineer Lockwood's transfer. She's going to find out who.

* * *

She tells Lockwood his boss can't hide from her. He's in a cage, but he still smirks at her, calls her sweetheart. He insists she's got it backward. She's the one who can't hide. She can feel her blood chill as she takes her seat in the courtroom, next to Castle.

Those cops in front of her don't look right. Their pins, they're chrome! The ones the N.Y.P.D. wears are brass. Something is rolling down the aisle. She shouts for Castle to get down, covering him with her body. The room is vibrating, and her ears are ringing. She can barely hear Castle tell her he's all right.

She finds the empty shackles. Lockwood is escaping. She fires at the helicopter. It's futile. Lockwood's gone, and so is her best connection to her mother's murderer.

* * *

The boys have something. Lockwood made collect calls from prison. They were never accepted until that week. Esposito knows what Lockwood meant - military jargon for continue mission. What mission? He'd already killed Raglan and McCallister. Castle thinks it's the third cop, the only one left who could identify the man who hired Coonan. Could he be right?

* * *

There are no clues from the chopper. It was stolen, and now it's been washed down with bleach. Lockwood would do that - or have his men do it. Her trail gets wiped out at every turn. But why is there a trail? Why is the puppet master making his move now?

* * *

Ryker was the mole at the prison. He arranged Lockwood's transfer. Why? His record was spotless. Everyone at the prison respected him, even the prisoners. His financials hold the answer. He was drowning in debt - debt that a fifty-thousand-dollar payoff would wipe out.

* * *

The debt wasn't all that was wiped out. Ryker is dead. He had no idea whom he was dealing with. The bullet in his head was just another blast of the dragon's fire. God damn it! Who is the f***ing dragon?

* * *

There is nothing but dead ends. No. It's always Castle who finds another angle, and he's doing it again now. They uncovered Ryker by running his financials. Lockwood's boss must have done the same. Who could do that? Another cop? There must be something in that she missed. Her frustration is is flowing from every pore in her skin. She can't let herself be exposed like that. She needs to go through the files again but she needs to do it alone.

* * *

Why is Castle at her door? He's telling her the old reports he and the boys were going through were altered to cover up the identity of the third cop. He could have told her that on the phone, but that's not why he's there. He's trying to talk her off the case. No! He's the one who pushed her to pursue her mother's murder in the first place. Why is he doing this? He says she's going to get killed. He wants her to think about the people who care about her; her father; Josh.

What about Castle? Why does he care? Is he really just her partner, her friend? Almost dying in his arms. The kiss! He's right, they never talked about any of that. He doesn't know what they are to each other either.

It doesn't matter. She can't let it matter. It's her life.

What life? He's accusing her of hiding in her mother's murder like she hides in relationships with men she doesn't love. He claims she could be happy, but she's afraid. Is he right? Can't he see? She can't reach out to him or anyone else she could love until the wall her mother's murder built around her heart is knocked down.

She can't face him any longer. She can't let him behind her barrier, not now. She orders him to get out before she even realizes she's forming the words. Now she really is alone, more than she's been in three years. But it's better that way, isn't it?

* * *

She tells the captain she wants Castle gone. What? She didn't expect him to say yes. But he says he just let Castle stay because he was good for her. And he agrees with Castle that they can't win the war, but if she wants to fight the battle, he will stand with her. At least someone will. Whatever happens, she is going to fight.

* * *

Castle keeps calling. She can feel her chest tighten as she looks at the 23 missed calls on her cell phone screen, but she can't answer. She can't let him ask her to stop again.

Is that another call from Castle? No, it's Montgomery. He's got something! He wants her to meet him at the helicopter hanger. Could he have found evidence in the chopper that she and the boys missed?

* * *

The airstrip looks deserted. Where is the captain? A text from Ryan. Montgomery's the third cop! Her world is spinning around her. How could he be? He's been her mentor - supporting her all the way. He's the one who understands her battle. It that because it's always been against him? But if the third cop isn't her captain, why is he holding a gun?

Roy insists he isn't going to jail. He can't put his family through that. He says he was a rookie when everything went wrong. Raglan and McCallister were his heroes. Oh God, it was an accident, but he's the one that shot Bob Armen, and it led to her mother's murder! He's been trying to redeem himself ever since, as a cop - and with her. If she's his redemption, why is he turning on her now?

Who killed her mother? Why won't he give her a name? Isn't he there to kill her anyway? No, she's just the lure. He's still protecting her. No! She doesn't want Roy to give his life for her. She forgives him. There has to be another way. But his crime is not hers to forgive.

He called Castle! Roy tells him to get her out of there. She never knew the writer was strong enough to lift her like that: hold her like that. This is not the way she wanted to be in his arms.

She can't let Roy die. She should be standing with him, the way he said he'd stand with her; the way he's standing up for her now.

Her captain killed Lockwood. He killed them all. The last shot echoes through the hanger. Castle lets her go. It's too late. Roy is dead. He gave his life to save her. Castle kept her from trying to save Roy.

* * *

Castle, Ryan, and Esposito all agree that no one outside their immediate family needs to know that Roy Montgomery was anything less than the slain hero his funeral will honor. Castle will help bear Roy's coffin. Evelyn will get the flag. Kate will give the eulogy, repeating the words that gave her strength. It will be over. It will all be over.

* * *

She hears Castle's anguished cry the same instant the bullet burns into her chest. She can feel him tackling her to the ground, but it's too late. The life is draining from her body. "Stay with me Kate, please. Stay with me, OK? I love you. I love you, Kate." His words reach her as she sinks into darkness.

It's the same darkness that looms below her now, but this time, there are no words of love to cling to. Castle isn't there.


	39. Chapter 39

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 39

She can feel herself leaving her body behind. Castle calls her back. He calls her back again. There is a jumble of sounds and voices beyond the darkness. Castle's pleas are the last thing she hears before it all fades to nothing.

* * *

It's Castle, and he has flowers to add to those already overflowing the room. Next to the colorful bouquets, she must look like a ghost. She feels like one. The look that passes between Castle and Josh drops the temperature 30 degrees. Josh has been claiming that everything that happened, Montgomery's death, her shooting, was Castle's fault. He doesn't know the truth, and she can't tell him. Castle pushed her to solve her mother's murder, but the decision was her own. He tried to make her stop. He couldn't. He did keep her from trying to save Montgomery. Can she forgive that? She doesn't know.

He told her he loves her. She remembers every word, but she can't be near him, or Lanie, or the boys now. They all remind her of her failure. Montgomery is dead. Lockwood and his men are dead, but that monster is still out there. She has to get some distance from all of that; build her walls higher, or she'll never be able to get through a day again.

She lies. She tells Castle she doesn't remember. She can see the pain in his eyes, but she has to keep her shield up. She tells him he should have let her go to Montgomery. More pain. She claims she needs more time before she can talk to him again. She can see his steps dragging as he leaves. She didn't want to hurt him like that, but her own agony is too overwhelming to call him back.

* * *

The four walls of her father's cabin have become a prison. She thought she'd be safe there. It's her high ground, defensible. But she isn't defending herself, just hiding. She hasn't called Lanie. She hasn't called the boys. And she hasn't called Castle. Is he still there, or has her silence pushed him away for good?

Josh isn't there. She couldn't reach through her wall to him either. She didn't even tell him the truth about Montgomery. She couldn't tell him anything except that she wanted to be alone. She is. Dad's been up to see her, but she couldn't confide in him either. He has too much pain of his own.

* * *

She lies to Dr. Burke, the same lie she told Castle. She knows enough psychology to give the right answers to his questions and passes her fitness evaluation. She needs to get back to the precinct. If she doesn't solve her shooting, her mother's murder, she will be behind walls forever, but she's scared to death to face everyone again.

* * *

The cops in the bullpen are applauding like she's some kind of hero. Right, a hero that let everyone down.

Three months and the boys have nothing on her shooting. How can that be? They want to know why Castle hasn't explained it to her. Their eyes are accusing when she admits she didn't call Castle the way she promised she would. God, he was working with them on her case every day for months, even after she expelled him from her life. But he's not there anymore.

There's a new captain. How could anyone replace Montgomery? Captain Victoria Gates is from Internal Affairs. She must hate cops. She spent her career going after them. Iron Gates is another barrier to hurdle. That's the last thing she needs right now.

Gates wants to be called captain or sir. She's got a bigger stick up her ass than Fallon did. At least she gives Kate back her badge. But her gun, she wants her gun. Yeah, she'll requalify all right. Right now, she feels a lot like shooting something. And what about her case? She can't work on her case? A vendetta? This is no vendetta. This is survival. Screw that! She'll go around Gates. She'll go around anyone who tries to stop her.

Castle has the case files. The boys couldn't keep them where Gates could find them. She needs to see him. After all this time, after leaving him hanging like that, she can't just knock on his door.

* * *

There's a book signing - just like when they first met. This time he doesn't give her a welcoming smile. All she can see in his face is hurt and anger. She waits for him with his fans. He greets and thanks all of them but turns away from her. She deserves that, she turned away from him.

She tries to explain how she couldn't face everything surrounding him. He tells her that he was in the ambulance with her. He says she died twice in front of him. She didn't know that. He asks if she knows what it's like to see the life drain out of someone you care about. She hears his hesitation. He was going to say, "love," but he can't say it anymore. Does he still feel it? Does he still love her?

They are sitting on swings like children, but she feels like anything but a child. The last three months have been like years. He asks her about Josh. She tells him they broke up. She wants him to know why; to know about the wall around her heart. He needs to see that she didn't want to hurt Josh or him that way, but until that wall comes down, she isn't going to be able to have the kind of relationship she wants. And it will take solving her mother's murder to smash through it. She means a relationship with him. She thinks he knows that. He says that he's still mad, but she can see the hope in his eyes.

Castle was the one following the money trail, but the bank files were destroyed in a warehouse fire. He says the report pegged it as an accident. She doesn't buy that. She can't buy that. She needs to find out who wrote that report and get the truth out of him. But if Castle is going to help her, she needs him back in the precinct. There's the Castle smile she remembers. He can make it happen.

* * *

She can see the smoke coming out of Gates' ears. Her new captain doesn't like it, but she can't say no to the mayor. Kate has her partner back, and she has her gun back too. Castle actually got a kick out of seeing Gates twitch. It was kind of funny. She can't remember the last time she thought something was funny. Whenever it was, Castle must have been there.

The fire was three weeks after her mother's murder. That can't be a coincidence. Damn! She has to work on another case.

* * *

She's shaking. The sight of the gun paralyzes her. The boys are there, but she shouldn't have needed them. She should have been able to take the perp down herself.

* * *

Castle knows she froze. But she can't admit how she felt. They need to talk to Rod Halstead, the fire inspector.

* * *

Halstead insists that he's sure it was an accident, and that the report wasn't altered. She doesn't believe him. She's losing it, and she can't help it. Castle is dragging her away. She shouldn't need him to do that. She can't be that out of control.

* * *

No one is getting in her way. She and Castle will go over the file at her apartment - every freaking word. There's nothing there. Castle still thinks the fire was an accident. Halstead has a spotless record. Yeah, so did Ryker. That monster out there has a way of getting to people, even good people. Somehow, he got to Halstead, because if he didn't, she has no leads. She can't accept that.

* * *

Castle brings her coffee like it's a normal morning at the precinct. But nothing is normal. He's trying to get her to pull back from the case. He wants her to take time to get her bearings. She can't. If she isn't solving the murder, she doesn't know she is. He says she's the one who honors the victims, who brings the families some peace. It sounds like what he writes about Nikki Heat, but is it Kate Beckett? Is that enough? Can it be?

The boys are stuck in their case. They have the wrong suspect. They're looking to her, the way they always have. Can she come through? She's coming back to herself. She can feel her mind accepting her old rhythms. She has an idea. Was the killer in the apartment the whole time, the way Scott Dunn was when he framed Ben Conrad?

* * *

There's no secret room, but the murderer hid under the bed - and left prints.

They'll get the real killer this time. Castle wants to know if she's all right. Is she? She has to be. He tells her she's got this. He's her strength, as he has been for years. She's steady. She's a cop again. She snaps on the cuffs.

* * *

Castle wants to know how it feels. It's not enough, but it's enough for that day. She thanks him for having her back. He says that's what partners are for. His answer doesn't feel right. Last time she thanked him for having her back, he said "always." Will he still always be there, or has she pushed him too far away? Please God, let her not have done that. No. He's still with her. He says they'll get her mother's killer - that the wall won't be there forever.

Maybe Dr. Burke can help her make it fall. She lied to him, just like she lied to Castle. She'll tell him the truth now - about her shooting and about her feelings for Castle.

That truth doesn't matter anymore. Nothing does. Castle was what she wanted, but she threw her chance away.


	40. Chapter 40

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 40

"Tell me you need me." What? Oh, Castle's bored at the bank. He could come and help her with paperwork, but he's not quite bored enough for that - just enough to imagine that the bank is being robbed. Oh, God! It is! He's learned something following her and the boys around. His description is providing the information she needs. Squad cars are on their way, but the thieves have got Castle. One of the perps is on Castle's phone. She's trying to talk him into leaving before the cops get there. She has no experience at this. She can't convince him. There must be something she can do. She has to get there!

* * *

ESU is surrounding the bank. The command center is set up in a trailer. Captain Petersen is in charge, and he's a real dick. He won't let her help. Screw him! She's not going anywhere as long as Castle is being held. Espo has buddies in ESU. At least she can find out what's going on.

Petersen is pissed. The bank robber wants to talk to her. She doesn't know how to do this, but she has no choice. Castle's life is on the line.

Her contact calls himself Trapper John, He's no Elliott Gould, Wayne Rogers or Pernell Roberts. He's just a bastard. He tells her that if she jerks him around, he'll kill hostages and Castle will be first. She can't let that happen.

Damn! Captain Petersen says they can't do anything. Castle could be killed while the captain sits on his ass.

All Espo has is bad news. If ESU storms the bank, they'll be going in blind. The hostages – Castle and Martha – won't make it. There has to be a way to get intel. She wishes she could get in there somehow.

The robbers want a bus. That isn't going to happen. They'll be taken out by snipers when they try to reach it, but that could put the hostages in the crossfire.

What are those flashes of light? They must be a message from Castle! He's alive, and he's finding a way to reach out to her. It's Morse code, SD 120, over and over. What does that mean? It's a safe deposit box. It belongs to Agnes and Gideon Fields. The boys can check them out.

* * *

Agnes is dead in her apartment, strangled. Gideon's been dead for over a year, but the bank records showed both of them accessing the box monthly. What the hell is going on? A key was ripped from Agnes' neck. It must be to the safety deposit box. And Agnes's apartment is bugged.

Alexis is at the police line. She's frantic. Kate knows how Castle's daughter feels. She's scared to death of losing Castle too but she can't show her own terror. That will only make things worse for the girl. Desperately hoping it will be true, she assures her that her father and grandmother will be fine.

A hostage had a seizure. Trapper John wants a paramedic. That's the opening she needed. But he also wants a bus in 20 minutes. That's impossible. It will never be there in time. She'll go in as the paramedic and get as much tactical information as she can. If ESU has to storm the building, maybe the details she brings back will keep castle and the other hostages from being killed.

* * *

Thank God! Castle isn't hurt. She can get Sal Martino out. She wishes she could get Castle out too. The look on his face as she leaves is tearing her guts out. She wishes she could touch his cheek, kiss his lips, let him know how much she cares about him.

Trapper John is demanding a bus that can't arrive on time. He's threatening to kill Castle. She needs to stall him somehow.

* * *

Petersen's techniques aren't working, but she has one of her own. She tells Trapper John that she'll put a bullet in his skull if he carries out his threat. She means it. It sounds like he knew it. He's giving her another 20 minutes. It's enough. She didn't even realize she'd stopped breathing, but she can draw air into her lungs again now.

She reads the note Castle passed to her. There's C-4 in the bank! ESU will have to get in there before it can be set off. Petersen is running the operation.

Something doesn't add up. Trapper John didn't ask for anything in exchange for the 20 minutes. And why C-4? It's all too easy - like the trap Dunn set for the FBI. Something else is going on, something that has to do with Agnes Fields.

Did the boys get anything on her? Who was pretending to be the dead husband? There's no family to ask. Agnes' daughter Tanya and grandson Connor were killed in a boating accident. There's a son-in-law, Ron Brandt, but they can't reach him. The boys left a message but… An explosion! Oh God, the C-4!

* * *

The bank blew up. ESU is breaching. She's with them, shouting Castle's name. Will she only find his body? He's calling to her. He's alive!

His face is the only thing she can see. She touches his collar. She wishes she could touch a lot more. Martha reminds her that Castle isn't the only one there. He'll be OK. So, will Martha and all the other hostages, even the pregnant one.

The robbers are all dead. They blew themselves up. Castle doesn't believe that's possible. C-4 is stable, and the robbers were too professional to set it off prematurely. Petersen just talks about body parts. Jerk! But Petersen doesn't matter now. Castle is safe.

Alexis has her arms around her family. Kate wishes she could put her arms around Castle too.

* * *

Nothing about the robbery makes sense. There's something she and the boys are missing. There's the connection! Ron Brandt, the son-in-law, is Sal Martino! He checked out of the hospital against medical advice. Brandt probably faked the seizure. Brandt must have orchestrated the whole operation and tampered with the C-4 to kill the mercenaries he hired to stage the robbery.

* * *

What was so special about the pictures and letters from Agnes' safety deposit box? Tanya and Connor aren't dead! Tanya faked their deaths to escape abuse from Brandt. But Tanya couldn't abandon her mother. The man posing as Gideon fields served as a middleman between them.

If Ron gets to Tanya, he'll kill her and kidnap Connor. If they're going to find Tanya in time, they'll need to find the middleman. He has to be about the same age as Gideon would have been, and someone Tanya and Agnes knew they could trust.

Ryan is right. It must be Father Sean McCaskey, the priest that performed the funeral for Tanya and Connor. He has to be in on the plan.

* * *

McCaskey has Tanya's address, 14 Cascadilla Street in Ithaca. That's only a four-hour drive from the city. Brandt could already be there. They'll have to depend on the locals to save Tanya and Connor.

* * *

Damn! They're on hold. What is taking so long? The cops in Ithaca have Brandt. Thank God! Tanya needs a few stitches and Connor's OK. Espo can't wait to go to Ithaca to bring in Brandt. Ryan isn't as enthusiastic. He probably had something planned with Jenny. But he wants to get Brandt too. That leaves her and Castle. She offers to buy him a drink at the Old Haunt, but he has a better idea.

* * *

Martha has prepared a feast. She has wine too. Kate can really use that.

Castle thanks her for saving his life. She didn't really, this time. She doesn't think Trapper John and his mercenaries ever intended to kill Castle or any of the hostages, or they would have done it. It was all part of the theater Ron Brandt set up to disguise his real intentions. Still, anything is possible. Wait! That's not possible. Castle saved her life nine times, and she only saved his eight? He's been keeping track! Castle is unreal. He remembers everything.

Now she remembers everything too. He was always there for her, but not this time. She did what he couldn't bear to watch. She threw her life away.

A/N IMDB has Dean Norris' character named Captain Jim Davis. However, his uniform shirt says Petersen, so I went with that. It doesn't change the story one way or another. The character is still a jerk.


	41. Chapter 41

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 41

He's next to her. Her arm is across his body. She can smell his distinctive scent. She wants to burrow into him, to get even closer. What's wrong? They're cuffed! Castle!

His eyes are still closed, but he knows she's there. He mumbles, "Don't get up, stay in bed."

This is no bed. It's a mattress and not a very clean one. And from what she can make out in the dim light, the place they're in looks more like a dungeon than a bedroom. Castle wake up! Why are we cuffed? He claims he didn't do it. He's right, they look like her police-issue cuffs. But why would she…? She can't remember. They were drugged!

She can feel something stinging in the small of her back. She asks him to lift her top. He's too happy to do it. She wishes she had another reason for asking. He says there is a needle mark on her back that looks like it came from a blowgun. It feels that way too, but the touch of his hand feels comforting against her skin.

There's no time for that now. They need to figure out what happened to them. Castle says they were at a seedy motel. Yes, she took him up to the room and then … She lets out the breath she'd been holding. There was a dead body.

* * *

They were there on a case, with Lanie and the boys. Lanie and Espo were fighting. They'd been doing a lot of that lately, but the sparks flying between them didn't have much to do with anger. They were struggling against an entirely different emotion. It was a fight she knew well, one she almost lost when she woke up beside Castle - but she can't let him know that - not yet.

The victim was a white male in his thirties. He had a needle mark, but he didn't OD. He'd been strangled. He'd registered under the name of Jack Sparrow. Really? Johnny Depp, he wasn't, but the boys would check anyway. He wasn't the only one who tried to conceal his identity. The killer burned the corpse's fingerprints off. Lanie thought she still might be able to recover something of them, but it would take a couple of days. Until then, he was John Doe. There was a piece of paper in Does's pocket, torn from an envelope. Did he have a meeting with someone?

If they were in the motel checking out a murder, how did she and Castle end up awkwardly shackled to each other in a dungeon?

* * *

They were in the morgue. Castle was poking his nose into what Lanie and Espo were fighting about. Of course, Lanie told him it was none of his business, but that only made him more curious. It always does.

Could he have been curious about what it would be like to be cuffed to her? No, he would have wanted it in a way that would be easier for them to… She can't think about that right now.

* * *

Doe's meeting was at a café. They had a sketch of the man he met with, but they had no idea who he was. Why were they there? Castle had his usual off-the-wall theories. They were no help. Anyway, why would anyone in an elaborate conspiracy pick an alias as stupid as Jack Sparrow? If John Doe was a player, he wasn't much of one.

Castle saw something she didn't notice. The marks on the scrap of paper were a postal bar code. She got an address, maybe of the killer, from the post office.

* * *

She and Castle were talking about Lanie and Espo again, on their way into the house in Queens, but it was not really about that battling couple, was it? It was about her and Castle, wanting to be together but not admitting it. Except that he did admit it. But he hasn't repeated it. How could he after the way she retreated? She's the one who lied, and she was still doing it. Castle wondered how people can do that to themselves. How could she do it to herself? Would she ever be able to stop, or was she too afraid of being hurt again? If she was ever ready to tell him the truth, would he still be there? At least he was at her side then.

The house seemed empty, but someone was crying for help. There was an old woman in a cage. They tried to get her out. Wait! Why was she smiling? Kate could feel the impact of the dart, then nothing.

* * *

She can't remember anything else, and neither can Castle.

She and Castle are going in circles. Why can't he work with her? He's angry. He wants to know why she always has to be in the lead, why she can't even let anyone open a door for her.

She can't give up control like that. If she does… She can give in and let him lead the way to the light switch. Seeing their prison more clearly just makes things worse. The walls are cinderblock. The only way out is a hatch in the ceiling, and it's way out of reach. She asks him to hold her hand. That's just so the cuffs will be more comfortable, right?

There's a freezer. Could the body of the old woman be in there? There's no way to know. It's fastened with a combination lock. Maybe if they climb on it, they can reach the hatch.

The appliance won't budge. It's more like it's filled with rocks than a body. If they're going to move it, they'll have to unload it. Castle says he studied with one of the best safe-crackers in the business. She remembers that from the appendix in Castle's book. It was Powell, the same thief Castle brought to a murder scene - and who got back at him at the charity gala where they cracked the case.

* * *

Powell could have been a better teacher. Castle's been at it for over an hour, and her shoulder is cramping. She needs him to stop, at least for a minute. Maybe he can't do it. She has to let him try again. There isn't really another choice.

He wasn't just bragging. He did it! Now they have to look in the freezer. What's in there couldn't be worse than a body, could it?

It is worse. The freezer is full of chains and knives, knives with bloodstains on them. Whomever they belong to is not only crazy but sadistic. They have to get out before they become his next toys.

* * *

The hatch is too high, even standing on the freezer. She needs to climb on Castle's shoulders. She's done it before when they were hunting Castle's imaginary demons. Castle points out that when they did that they weren't handcuffed, and she was wearing sneakers, not boots with four-inch heels.

He has a point. Much as she prefers to equalize their heights, she can balance better in bare feet. He's attaching way too much meaning to her requests to lift up her shirt and pull off her boots. She tells him he can fantasize later. She's hoping he'll get the chance.

He says he's tired of having her walking all over him. Does he really just mean the way she's climbing up his body? What he's saying now is like his complaint about her always having to go first. Maybe she should let up a little, but she can't. She's still too vulnerable. If she softens, she could crumble. But has she been keeping him at arm's length for too long? Is he pulling away? No. His hands on her are warm and gentle. They're working together. They could fit together too.

She's up there! She can reach the hatch door. Who's that? It's a man - or is he one of Castle's demons? She's never seen a look that gleefully evil before.

They're falling. They hit the mattress, but it still takes her a moment to be able to get air back into her lungs. What do the people who've shut them up in this hole want from them? Are they being held for torture, or something even worse?

* * *

The knife is making no progress on their cuffs. She wishes Powell had taught Castle another trick. Cut off her hand? He can't be serious. She knows he isn't. He wouldn't hurt her. Then why does she need her damn wall?

The voices they hear are speaking Arabic. There's a sound on the other side of the wall like a girl crying. Castle thinks their captors are human traffickers. Could he be right? Don't the rich and powerful from the Middle East like to buy virgins? She would hardly qualify. Castle wonders what a best-selling author would be worth. Why would they want one, ransom?

They have to reach the girl. Maybe she has some answers. Castle isn't sure, but all she has to do to motivate him is to compare the girl to Alexis. He's always been ready to go to the mat for his daughter, or any kid like her. It's one of the things she adores most about him.

The wall between their prison and the girl's isn't the cinderblock that makes up the others. She and Castle should be able to kick through it. He says he's always admired her legs, now he respects them. His aren't so bad either. She wouldn't have expected that much muscle. They really do work well together. They've made a big enough hole to look through, maybe even for a girl to crawl through.

She lets Castle go first this time. There's a tiger! That explains the chains and the knives. They must have been used to carve flesh to feed it. Will the menu include her and Castle? It can't get to them, can it? It can. They started breaking down the wall, but the giant cat will finish the job.

Castle thinks they should hide in the freezer. They can't. She's seen too many kids who have smothered that way. Maybe they can use it to block the hole in the wall. He tells her to get behind him. He's playing her protector again, just like he did when Dunn was after her. He really does still care about her, but it is going to take a lot more to protect her from a tiger than from a human serial killer.

They climb on top of the freezer. They're out of reach, but for how long? The tiger can knock it over at any time. She's playing with them like a housecat plays with a mouse before tearing into it. Castle says he's so sorry, he's got nothing else. She's clinging to him. That's not right; she's the cop. She's the one who's supposed to be the protector. But she's out of ideas too. It's probably hopeless, but there's nothing left to do but scream for help.

Ryan and Esposito hear them, like gods out of the machine from a Greek play. It doesn't matter how the boys got there, as long as they get them out.

Why haven't they come back? The freezer is falling. Damn it! They're not going to die now! The pipes, they can hang from the pipes, but for how long?

* * *

Her arms are about to give out, but the boys are back.

* * *

Gates is there, it looks like she brought an army. Her eyes are flashing with fury, but at least she gives Kate back her badge and the other things that were taken from her and Castle. Gates also declares that she's instituting a new policy. From now on the detectives have to call in whenever they go anywhere. The boys aren't grateful for that new wrinkle. Now Espo is mad at her instead of Lanie. Maybe that's an improvement.

* * *

The kidnappers are the Spurlock family. The old woman who was in the cage is their matriarch. They were raising tigers in Texas, the only state where it is legal. That figures. Spooner, the trucker who was the murder victim, had been smuggling the cats to New York for shipping out to their foreign clients, like the Arabic speaker they heard. They killed him when he tried to go to the cops.

She and Castle were drugged with animal tranquilizer. He's complaining that it couldn't have been good for him and that he still has a taste in his mouth. It is typical of Castle. He wanted to be her shield in the face of death, but gripes about the picayune stuff like the man-child she knows he isn't. She has a vision of putting her own taste in his mouth but covers that imagining by staring at the floor.

* * *

After all that, Castle wants to know what will happen to the tiger. He's actually sympathetic to the big cat, especially now that he's no longer in danger of being eaten. She doesn't want to see the animal hurt either. It isn't the cat's fault the Spurlocks tried to turn her and Castle into tiger kibble.

* * *

What? Castle is saying that if he ever had to be hitched to anyone again, he'd want it to be her. He backs off immediately and says he meant cuffed. Did he, or did he mean what he told her the first time? If she could solve her mother's murder, maybe she could think about getting hitched someday too. For now, she can only give the vaguest hint of what she could want for the future. She says she wouldn't mind spending another night cuffed to him either, but next time, they should do it without the tiger.

What's that look on his face? Is it shock or is it hope?

As she turned away smiling then, she had dreams of waking up together again, and of a lot more. But they're all gone now. Her obsession was too strong, and now it will kill her.


	42. Chapter 42

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 42

Lanie and Espo are still fighting. There must be some way they can get together.

The victim is Francisco Pilar, a big name in the dog world. His Golden Retriever, Royal, is pawing at the floor. What does that mean? Castle thinks the dog would have tried to defend his master and must have some trace evidence on him. He's got a point. Lanie believes the DNA from anyone he bit might have been washed away by slobbering, but it's worth a shot to take him to the lab and check.

David Hernande, the owner of a yappy ball of fluff and a very sore loser, thinks Pilar was killed by a competitor. He believes Francisco was on the take to throw the outcome of the competition. Really? Big money riding on dog shows? Castle thinks it might be an interesting twist and not too far outside the box. For Castle, not much is outside the box.

A woman was seen leaving Pilar's dressing room right in the middle of the kill zone. It was Kay Cappuccio, the beautiful but vacant reality star. How does she have her own perfume line and so many followers and sycophants with no perceptible talent? But then the paparazzi are dumb enough to think Castle looks like Jason Bateman.

* * *

Kay knew Pilar. She hired him to work with her ever-present dog, Lolita, but according to Kay, Pilar said he didn't want to work with her. That's puzzling. If Pilar was into money, why turn down the kind of payday he could have received for training the pampered pooch? Kay doesn't know why either. No surprise there. She doesn't seem to know much of anything. The shopping celebrity claims she went to see Pilar at the dog show to get an explanation and found the body. She fled the crime scene. How much of an airhead can someone be?

Pilar thought Kay was working for someone. Doing what? He was paranoid. Could it have had something to do with a bunch of $10,000 deposits he made to his account? That doesn't quite make sense either. If he were doing something illegal, he would have kept his deposits under $10,000, to prevent them from being reported to the IRS.

* * *

Lanie brings Royal into the bullpen. She swabbed his mouth, but she doesn't have much hope of uncovering any viable evidence. Castle is bonding with the friendly canine immediately. What is it with Castle and dogs? First Lucy and then Royal. With all the people he knows, is he really that desperate for a friend?

Lanie didn't have the heart to call animal control. Castle wants to know what they'll do with the dog. He thinks the precinct should have a mascot. She can't resist the look in Royal's eyes - or Castle's. She has to give in and agree to keep the dog around until they solve Pilar's murder.

* * *

Pilar made visits to a therapist, Dr. Patty Barker. Maybe she can shed some light on this. Pilar was eating dead birds and poop? Oh, Patty Barker was Royal's therapist. A pet therapist named Barker? Really? Pilar canceled Royal's last appointment, telling Patty he had to be somewhere in a hurry. Barker thinks that if Royal was a witness to Pilar's murder, she might be able to get something useful to the case out of him. Who does she think she is, Dr. Doolittle? If Castle's willing to bring the dog, why not? It's not like Kate has a lot of other leads.

* * *

The boys found a bug sweeper in Pilar's apartment. He really was paranoid, but even paranoids have enemies. He must have, or he wouldn't be dead.

* * *

She and Espo get into a warehouse Pilar had visited, using the dead man's keycard. The place is full of empty cages. Could it be some kind of kennel? Where are the dogs? Oh no! Two of them, German Shepherds, are coming at her and Espo. They're getting close, but a man calls them off just in time.

Their rescuer says his name is Jack Patterson, and that he worked with Pilar, developing a new breed of dog, the Pilar Retriever. The dog was so eagerly anticipated in the canine-loving world that prospective owners were giving Pilar $10,000 deposits for puppies from the first litter. That explains the bank records, but it doesn't explain what Pilar was afraid of or why he'd have a bug sweeper. Patterson says everyone was after Pilar's breeding secrets. The sweeper was tripped when Pilar was talking to Kay Cappuccio's retinue. That's why Pilar refused to train Lolita. Kate's not going to speak to Kay in the middle of her entourage this time. The woman is going to be in the box.

* * *

Kay seems as clueless as ever. She really doesn't know what corporate espionage means? Ryan says Kay set off the bug sweeper when she walked by his desk but doesn't have the bug on her. The video feed is of the boobs Espo seems to worship so much. Kay is the one being bugged -up close and personal. The only thing held against her chest is Lolita. The bug is in the dog's collar.

One thing Kay can figure out is why someone would want video feed of her. TMZ is offering a million dollars for Kay's nude photograph. With Lolita going everywhere with her, bugging the dog is a perfect way to get one. But if the bug is about Kay, what does that have to do with Pilar's murder? There must be a connection somewhere. Could Pilar have been killed to keep him from telling Kay that she was being bugged? People have been murdered over a lot less than a million-dollar payday.

Castle wants to take Royal home with him. She's never really been a dog person, but right now she could use some undemanding affection herself. She and Castle might as well share the dog. That will also give her an excuse outside of work to see Castle for something other than a beer at the Old Haunt.

* * *

Castle fed Royal a steak? Right now, she could use some red meat herself. Castle wants to show her just how Royal likes being rubbed. She wonders what the soft circles Castle's thumb is making on her hand would feel like on a more intimate part of her body. She has to make him stop before she's tempted to find out.

Royal's begging eyes are a lot like Castle's. She has to let the dog on the couch. Right now, she can use someone to cuddle, and Royal comes with a lot fewer complications than Castle does.

* * *

Marcus Hiatt took a picture of Kay that had to have come from the feed from Lolita's collar. He had credentials for the dog show. He would have had access to Pilar's dressing room. They catch the slimeball still monitoring the feed. He claims he just picked it up somehow. He saw Kay in the shower? Espo's about to punch the peeping tom's face in.

Hiatt claims that Pilar was into some sketchy stuff. While Lolita was with the trainer, Hiatt overheard him talking about shipments from Argentina, getting past customs and street values. Pilar had to be involved with drugs! The evidence must be in the warehouse. That's why there was security and the guard dogs.

* * *

Patterson knows precisely what they'll find in the warehouse - suitcases with false bottoms and heroin. Pilar was training the best drug-sniffing dogs. Patterson's real name is Kenny Weiser, and he works for U.S. Customs. Pilar was training dogs to take down operations of the Vasquez Cartel. Weiser askes for coffee. After what he pulled on her and Espo, she ought to give him the old monkey peed in battery acid brew.

The dogs were trained to paw the ground when they smelled drugs. That's what Royal was doing at the murder scene! He must have detected drugs on the killer. Good dog! The killer was connected with the Vasquez Cartel.

Wait! Why is Royal pawing the ground near her? The only scent she has is from Guilty Pleasure, the perfume from the gift basket Kay left. The fragrance has poppy in it, and heroin is derived from poppies.

* * *

Kay stayed at the compound of Junior Vasquez, the first lieutenant of the Vasquez Cartel. Espo is bummed to hear it, but Kay is the connection between Pilar's death and the drug lords. Kay says she was wearing the perfume when she went to see Pilar. She's the only one that could have been. It isn't for sale yet. She just incriminated herself! Could Kay be any dumber? She really didn't know the Vasquez family exported heroin. She wouldn't exactly be a reliable operative for the cartel.

It was Kay's boyfriend, Reggie! He went to school with Junior Vasquez, and the video shows Kay accidentally spritzing him with Guilty Pleasure. Royal goes after Reggie. That's karma. The dog is avenging his master.

* * *

She's making herself a little too vulnerable splitting time with Castle to take care of Royal. The dog will have to stay with one of them. Will he come to her or to Castle?

He's going to Kay! Royal has a crush on Lolita. At least someone will end up with a mate. He'll have a home where he can be happy.

Royal was a lot wiser than she was. Castle had been right almost a year before. She could have been happy, but she was afraid. Now her chance is gone.


	43. Chapter 43

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 43

Castle doesn't know that Alexis is interning with Lanie. He'll find out soon. The vic was shot, stabbed and choked before being thrown out a window. Castle is right, it is definitely overkill. What kind of person would do that?

Castle isn't happy about Alexis being on the scene. He feels like his territory is being invaded. She would welcome him into the club, except that she really doesn't feel that way anymore. Investigating a crime scene seems incomplete somehow when he isn't there. He says he's afraid that Alexis will interfere with their partnership, their unit cohesion. That is sort of cute, if that's what he really means.

The killer was injured. There's a blood trail, it gets heavier at the edge of the sidewalk, then stops. He got into a car.

* * *

The video shows he hijacked a woman's cab, then took her with him. He has a hostage! We need to find him fast before he throws her out a window, too.

* * *

The killer is one cool psychopath. He doesn't even stop chewing on his sandwich when she holds a gun on him. He is too calm.

His name is Thomas Gage. He claims he doesn't need an attorney. He may be cool, but he's not very smart. For murder and kidnapping, they can put him away forever, but he insists that everything they have on him or think they have on him is all going away. He really is a nutbar, but something feels off.

Gage's ID is bogus, and his prints aren't in the system. He admitted to his hostage that he killed a guy - but the man doesn't exist. That should be impossible. Lanie found scars and old bullet wounds all over the victim's body. He also has signs of martial arts training. It looked like he'd been fighting and getting shot for years. There should be a record. Hell, there should be a thick file.

* * *

The body is gone, and so is Gage! Gage has been two steps ahead the entire time, and he must have had a partner that took the body from the morgue. He also stole a police uniform and got into the database. He was looking for a Tracy McGrath, from Queens. Maybe she knows who Gage really is.

* * *

Tracy is dead. Kate needs Lanie and CSU. She tells Castle to stay put while she looks around. She hears something. Is that Castle in a black hood? They're both being grabbed! Who are these people?

* * *

She and Castle are in an elevator taking a very long ride down. They must be underground. The doors open on a technological dreamscape. Castle says he has no idea where they are, but there's something weird about the way he says it. He's not very convincing.

Sophia Turner, who the hell is Sophia Turner? She's calling Castle, "Rick." How does she know him and why is she welcoming them to the CIA? Castle keeps avoiding the question, but Sophia explains. Sophia and Castle met when he was starting to do research for his first Derrick Storm novel. Sophia is Clara Strike! Castle had another muse, a drop-dead gorgeous one. To make it worse, Castle and Sophia are making goo-goo eyes at each other.

Sophia informs them that the Chief of Detectives said the CIA would get Kate's and Castle's full cooperation. Sonofabitch! The too-beautiful agent wants to know what they know about Gage. Not as much as Sophia does. He is a CIA agent who went rogue. He is trying to initiate a catastrophic event. Their murder victim is a CIA agent, Harry Harper, who was sent to stop Gage. Obviously, he didn't succeed. The CIA snatched Harper's body from the morgue. Gage killed Tracy McGrath.

Espo is calling. He wants to know about the special assignment she and Castle have from the chief. He's really pissed when she can't tell him, but he says he found something about a Pandora. Sophia's Partner, Agent Danberg, says they'd heard chatter that Pandora was the code for Gage's mission.

Sophia wants Kate and Castle to report everything about their investigation to the CIA. Castle agrees way too fast. Yeah, of course, he would. He'd probably agree to jump off the Empire State Building if Sophia asked him to.

* * *

Kate isn't so sure about working with the CIA - or Sophia. The CIA put special icons on their phones to make contact. Castle's is a panic button. She's rarely known Castle to panic. Does Sophia really know him that well? Maybe not. Or maybe he's changed since he and Sophia knew each other.

Castle is having a great time thinking about himself as a spy, but he can tell that she's upset. She denies it, but he believes it's about Sophia. He's right. He says he just shadowed Sophia for a little while and that being with her wasn't like being with Kate. He claims that Nikki Heat is a more nuanced character and he's a better writer now. He was a pretty damn good writer then. What else was he good at? What? He and Sophia were together for a year! That's no little while. She can't help wondering how many other muses Castle's had.

* * *

Smoke is coming out of the captain's ears again, but they have to keep her in the dark. They could be guilty of treason if they don't. Castle loves to see the captain mad. The way her face twitches is kind of funny. But the boys are angry at being out of the loop too, and that isn't funny. She wishes she could tell them, especially Espo, what is going on. Castle thinks there might be clues to Pandora at the scene of Tracy's murder.

* * *

Does Castle have to play with the chess clock? He's really being annoying. He does figure out that Tracy drove her car before she was murdered, but it's not parked anywhere nearby.

* * *

Tracy's vehicle is in a parking garage in Elizabethport, New Jersey. It's a great muscle car. Kate would love to try it out. Castle didn't know that her Harley isn't the only hunk of horsepower she likes to ride. She challenges him to try and lap her at the track. She isn't sure she's talking about cars.

What is in the trunk? Castle doesn't want her to open the case; he's afraid it's a doomsday device. In a parking garage? He's getting too deep into spy mode, but what's in the case is tradecraft. It's a military grade cellphone with a scrambler. Who would Tracy need to call with that?

Damn! It's Gage. How did he surprise her like that? In a parking garage, she should have heard the echoes of his footsteps or something. How did he take away her gun? He's taking their phones and smashing Castle's. Why isn't he crushing hers?

She and Castle are locked in the trunk of Tracy's car. Castle is tensing his body and squeezing his eyes shut. He says he's getting ready to shield her from a hail of bullets. Sweet, but impossible. There are no bullets! Why didn't Gage just kill them? Now Castle seems strangely calm. Did he press his panic button before Gage grabbed his phone? Maybe Gage was trying to stop the signal from going out. She doubts that he succeeded. She is not about to be saved by Castle's ex-girlfriend! She can get the trunk open.

A CIA agent is waiting as she pushes the lid up. Damn! Back in hoods again? This is ridiculous!

* * *

Tracy's phone is gone, so how can they figure out who she called, without it? Kate has to agree with Sophia. The CIA has the coolest toys. She just wishes Castle wasn't so fascinated by them.

Tracy called a dead man, Dr. Nelson Blakely, who'd been a consultant for the agency. He faked his own death. He did math-based predictive models, based on a linchpin theory. Small events can trigger big ones. Castle understands it immediately as how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand started World War I. OK, yeah, she gets it too. Blakely is the one who planned Pandora. Blakeley has some kind of a chess code. What does it mean? The CIA can't seem to crack it. At least there's something their freaking toys can't do.

Sophia is tossing her and Castle out. The CIA is going to concentrate on Blakely. Wait a minute! Where does that leave the hunt for Gage? Kate still has a murder investigation to close. Sophia assures her that she'll let Kate know if she gets any information about Gage. Kate doesn't believe her, but Castle does. He soaks in every word Sophia says.

* * *

Castle's not at the precinct. Maybe he's off dreaming about Sophia. Even if his nose has been out of joint, Espo has been working on the murders Gage committed. He found a link between Tracy and Blakely. Tracy helped Blakely fake his death!

What's Castle doing here? He thinks he has something. Why didn't he bring it to Sophia? He says Sophia's not his partner, Kate is. She hopes she can believe him. Blakely's code is for a place to play chess. They figure it out together, Brooklyn Bridge Park. Blakely's meeting with Tracy is supposed to be at 5 o'clock. Tracy won't be there, but she and Castle will. They can find out about Pandora and Gage.

* * *

Maybe she can find out more about Sophia too. Castle says she can ask him anything, but she needs to pretend she doesn't care. How close were they? He's about to answer, but Blakely arrives. Sh*t! Blakely wants them to take him to Pier 32.

Blakely says he died because he didn't like playing God. Afterward, Tracy helped him stay dead. She steered consulting his way, and he did good things for the world. He says someone is trying to make Pandora happen. Pandora was the thesis of a white paper Blakely wrote. He found a linchpin that will bring about the end of the country! What is the linchpin?

* * *

Why is Blakely talking about pigeons? No! Don't get out of the car! Blakely's been shot, and her car is being pushed into the river!

The doors won't open. The crash bent the frame. She can't find her gun to break the window. Her belt is jammed, and her seat won't move. The car is filling up with water. She needs Castle to find her gun so they can shoot her belt off.

Castle says he found it! He's diving again. Where is he? Oh no, could he have drowned? Castle! She can't get out. The water! She can't breathe. Are those shots? She can feel arms around her.

* * *

She's lying on the rough wood of the pier. Air is being blown into her lungs. She can feel someone pulling back as she forces her eyes open. Castle is staring down at her, relief in his eyes. He's alive and got her out! Are those sirens? Someone must have seen her car go in the water. Blakely is lying not far away. His pockets are turned out. Whatever he was there for, whoever shot him must have taken it. He won't have to fake anything this time. He really is dead.

* * *

Alexis brought dry clothes for Castle, but he still looks like a wet puppy. Kate thanks him for pulling her out of the car. He says he's sure she would have done the same. God, she hopes she would have been able to. He has a beach house with a pool. With his daughter swimming there, he must have taken life-saving training. It would be like him.

Espo wants to know what's going on. She can see his anger growing at being excluded, but there's nothing she can do. He says he's going to help the harbor police figure out how to get her car out of the river. As deep as it went, she's not sure they can.

Damn! What was Blakely looking for? Did Gage shoot him? Then why not kill her and Castle too? Why didn't he kill them instead of locking them in the trunk of Tracy's car? None of this makes sense.

Sophia is there. She looks like she wants to shoot them, but she orders them into the car.

* * *

Another trip into the bowels of God knows where, to the CIA. She can feel the fury radiating from Sophia, mostly directed at Castle for not telling her he'd solved Blakely's code. Kate's defending her partner - hers not Sophia's. Sophia is calling him a reckless, immature, self-centered jackass. Kate can remember saying something like that once - before he pulled her out of a burning apartment and a car at the bottom of the river. Sophia doesn't really know him at all - or has he changed that much? The angry spy spits out that he can't just rewrite the ending like he did with them. What? Did Castle sleep with Sophia?

* * *

He did. Kate wonders if there were anymore muses. He insists there weren't. She's not sure she believes him, but Clara and Nikki are his significant heroines, and Nikki does have more depth than Clara did. Maybe he's telling her the truth.

Oh, God! Did she have to talk to Castle about sleeping with Sophia in front of Alexis? She shouldn't have done that, but it still hurts. He slept with Sophia, and he's never slept with her. Wait, who's decision was that? He wanted to be her conquest after their first case together, but she wouldn't let him. Not wouldn't, couldn't. She still can't.

* * *

They still have to find Thomas Gage. He may be in the wind, but she knows what he'll have to do. He'll have to find the linchpin. That means finding where Blakely was hiding. Blakely's prints came back as Scott McGregor, and his address was phony, but he came out for chess matches. One of the people he played with might know.

The boys are canvassing the chess parks, but she can't be with them because she doesn't have a freaking car. The captain won't let her be assigned another one until she writes a report, and she can't do that because she was working on something classified. Damn Sophia and the CIA anyway.

What? Castle got a lead from Sophia. She came to his apartment! He says it was not like that. At this point, she's not sure what to believe. If Sophia was just posturing for her colleagues, can Kate believe anything the woman said? Castle shouldn't.

The sheet of paper Sophia gave Castle has Blakely's bank information. He has $2 million in his accounts and none of it in his own name. It's a dead end.

The boys came through! Blakely was spending time with Janacek Spivey, an economics professor who saw him go into a building on Union Square.

* * *

Another false name, Finley this time, but they've found Blakely's apartment. It looks like something out of _A Beautiful Mind_ , with strings and scraps of paper in a monstrous spider web. There's the linchpin! A little girl? How could a little girl bring about the end of the country?

Gage is there! He tells them to run! What? There're under attack! Gage has a van. He's rescuing them, but he won't let them call anyone. He wants to know who the linchpin is. She's not about to give that information to a cold-blooded murderer. Gage insists he didn't kill Blakely and Tracy McGrath. He says there's something wrong at the CIA and his own people are setting him up to take the fall. Could he be telling the truth? There's no chance to find out. Sophia is there with her men.

* * *

Sophia says Gage was playing them. Why? What could he gain from that? Finding the linchpin? He was at Blakely's place; he could have found it himself. None of this seems rational, except that she knows Gage killed Henry Harper without a second thought. If he did that, he could easily have murdered Tracy and Blakely too.

All the facial recognition algorithms fail. They can't identify the little girl's school uniform either.

Gage is dead. He must have had a partner at the CIA who killed him to keep him from talking. It's Danberg! He took a hostage and got away! Why didn't he kill his hostage? Whom else did he compromise? They need to find him! Finding the girl is more important, but they're dead in the water.

No, they're not! Castle has an idea - like always. He wants the techs to run the mountains in back of the girl, in the photograph. Sophia calls him a genius. You'd think she would have known that by now. Maybe she did. Maybe that's why she's been using Castle all along.

Castle says it's going to be a long night. He goes to get coffee. Sophia says he was always thoughtful. This may be the only chance Kate has to ask what happened between Sophia and Castle.

Sophia describes the longing, the sexual tension between her and Castle, from the time they met. Kate knows that feeling. Sophia says they held out until they couldn't stand it anymore. Castle was only with Sophia a year. He's been with Kate almost four. Can she hold out much longer? Sophia says that when the longing was gone, all that was left was the things that drove them crazy about each other. She wishes they hadn't slept together, but that they'd kept that longing. Is that all Kate and Castle have? Castle's back, casting admiring glances at CIA mugs. If they sleep together, is his obsession with spy paraphernalia one of the things that would drive her away? Will she ever find out?

They've identified the girl! She's Mia, the daughter of Xiang Ganghong, the minister who controls the debt China carries from the U.S. If Mia is killed in the United States, the country won't be able to borrow any more money. The U.S. economy will fail. The country will slide into ruin.

Mia is in New York with her father. An assassin may already be on the way to kill her. They have to stop it.

* * *

Sophia meets up with an Agent Corrigan from another CIA base. Danberg shouldn't have been able to get to him. Why are they going to the basement of the hotel? Mia and her father will be upstairs.

Sophia is the mole, and Corrigan is working with her. He's going to take out Mia while Sophia kills her and Castle. Castle's in shock. He can't believe Sophia would turn on her country. She didn't. She's speaking Russian. Sophia tells them not to worry, they'll die heroically. Castle's father will be very proud. What? Castle's father works for the CIA? He's the one who got Castle in? Or is that just another one of Sophia's lies, her last before she kills them?

A shot! Agent Danberg killed Sophia. Castle is kneeling by her body, still trying to grasp what happened. He's shattered. It's like when she found out Royce was dirty. Everything Castle based so much of his books - his life - on was a lie. She wishes she could throw her arms around him. But there's no time to do anything for him now. She'll have to do what she can for him, later. She and Danberg need to go to save Mia.

* * *

They tackle Corrigan just in time. The country will never know how close it came to the brink.

* * *

Castle made the good coffee. They all can use it while Danberg debriefs them. He thinks Sophia was an old KGB sleeper agent who stayed with the agency after the Soviet Union fell. Wow! He has the keys to her car. The CIA fished it out of the river. Danberg says he thinks she'll find it better than new. With the CIA, maybe she better sweep it for bugs. Castle asks about his father. Danberg says he doesn't know. Even if he did, she doubts he'd tell. If Castle's father has been undercover all this time, Danberg isn't about to reveal him now.

She and Castle are alone. He wonders if Sophia was telling the truth about his father.

Was Sophia telling the truth about losing her longing for Castle after they slept together? Now Kate will never know.


	44. Chapter 44

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 44

Five are dead and 28 injured in Boylan Plaza. As he stares at the carnage, Castle looks like he was blown up himself. He can't take his eyes from the mangled and blood-soaked victims. The Feds have taken over, both FBI and Homeland Security. New York cops will serve in a supportive capacity - whatever that means. Gates is talking about holding witnesses' hands. They'll have to do a lot more than that.

* * *

Were any of the victims targeted because of the protest? The leader of the protest and one of the five who were killed is Jesse Friedman. Levine starts to quote him, and Kate finishes it, with a knot in her stomach. "To sin in silence when we should protest makes cowards of men." Women too. She has maintained her silence for too long. The devastation is a reminder of all the tomorrows that may never come.

Castle says he's good, but he still looks shell-shocked. No one seems to have been targeted. The victims were random. The deaths make no sense. Castle says they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time and all their plans and all of their future was gone in a flash. He's right. What he says adds to what she started thinking after talking to Levine. There are things in her life she just doesn't want to put off anymore - like being with Castle.

Who placed the bomb within the 47 second period? There are more than 300 people to interview. Someone must have seen something.

It's beginning to seem like no one saw anything. Wait! A Middle Eastern-looking man was carrying a cardboard box toward the lamppost where the bomb went off. He was sweaty and nervous. They have a sketch!

What are the boys saying about Westside Wally and Beethoven? He might have seen something, but the poor guy must be off his meds - or on bad ones.

Damn! The Middle Eastern man was cleared, and they're down to nothing from witnesses, again, and an email arrived saying that today's bombing will be just the beginning. They need to get the FBI to let them see the video they are jealously guarding so they can prioritize their interviews.

Castle suggests another tack. The witnesses closest to the explosion aren't on their list - they're in the morgue. Maybe there's evidence they can use, on the bodies.

* * *

Castle was right. Lanie found blue canvas with explosive residue embedded in Jesse Friedman. The bomb was in a blue bag or backpack.

Alexis is in the morgue helping Lanie. She looks a lot like Castle did at the blast scene. Of course, Castle goes to talk to her. He's always there for his daughter. He wants to take Alexis home. He should. The way he takes care of Alexis is one of Kate's favorite things about him.

* * *

Castle is bringing coffee. He has a strange look on his face like words are just behind his lips. They are. He's talking about the opportunities the victims will never have. He says he doesn't want that to… Damn! Ryan's timing sucks! She wants Castle to go on, but he says it can wait until after the case. Can anything wait anymore?

Gates got the GPS data from the phones. The captain does have at least one excellent friend. There may be a lot hiding beneath the iron exterior. Kate can't be the only one with history.

By looking at the array of dots on the screen, they'll know where everyone was. Castle notices that right before the bomb went off, a dot goes to the blast site, waits for a second, then rushes away.

The phone belongs to Andrew Haynes, and he's in the precinct! He thinks he's there as a witness. The cops who searched him told him it was routine. He didn't have a weapon or explosives on him. He didn't have a phone either.

* * *

She'll play a character. She knows how to act like she's just as much of a wingnut as Haynes is. She's met enough guys like that. Unfortunately, some of them are even cops. He falls for it. He really wants to impress her, and she'll give him the opportunity. He says he was 100 feet from the blast site. That's not what his GPS showed. He claims he was debating with the protesters. More likely harassing them, but she lets him go on thinking that she's on his side. She has him reeled in. Now's the time to confront him with the GPS evidence and accuse him of planting the bomb. He says he lost his phone. He might be telling the truth since he doesn't have it on him. How about the emails? That's it. He's asking for his attorney. If he planted that bomb, no lawyer in the world will be able to protect him from going down for it.

* * *

No witness saw Haynes plant the bomb or even near the lamppost where it went off. Castle wants to talk to the drummer who showed up in the news-feed from the protest. As a street musician, he must have had a nuisance citation or two. They can find him. What did he see?

* * *

Castle is right on target. Malik, the drummer, was at the coffee truck. He's worried that Kate will turn him into immigration. She doesn't care if he overstayed his visa, she just wants to know what he saw. Malik saw a man with the backpack, but it wasn't Haynes. The real bomber is still out there! Who was the man in the "Takeover" hoodie?

Gates wants Castle to go through all the interviews. He wants to take it as a compliment. He thinks he's finally getting to Gates, but she isn't doing him any favors loading him up with all the scut work. He has a long way to go to get on Gates' good side.

* * *

Where is Castle? At the speed he reads, he should have been through the stack of paper Gates gave him by now. What was he going to tell her?

Malik's sketch was ID'd as Robert "Bobby" Lopez. They know where he lives. The boys bring him in. He has no record and isn't a member of any political party. Why did he plant that bomb?

Bobby pleads he doesn't remember anything. Amnesia? Traumatic shock? An angry tirade about how she was shot in the chest and remembers every second of it comes pouring out of her. Even as she says it, she realizes that she lied - to Castle. Bobby is lying too. She knows it. But she still can't make him admit anything.

Ryan says Castle was at the precinct but said he had somewhere he needed to be. Now? In the middle of the investigation? He comes back, but he looks strange somehow.

Castle's expression isn't the only thing that's strange. The pipe bomb wasn't loaded with anything to maximize damage. Castle says that's not the only way to maximize damage. He's looking straight at her when he says it. What does he mean?

* * *

The detonator only had a range of 100 feet. Whoever detonated it was at Boylan Plaza. It wasn't Bobby. He's just a pickpocket. He had Haynes' phone because he stole it. The bloviator haranguing the crowd was easy pickings. To Bobby, claiming amnesia seemed easier than admitting his crimes. It's easier than admitting a lot of things. What is that look on Castle's face? Could he know? No, that's impossible. How could he?

Bobby didn't even know there was a bomb in the backpack, but someone did and tried to get it back from him. It was Jesse Friedman! Why would he want to attack his own people? Publicity?

He didn't want anyone hurt. The bomb was supposed to go off between two dumpsters and make the news. He must have had a partner set it off. Who?

They're re-watching the video from the news. Castle's narrating the whole progression of events as if it's one of his stories. He always figures out the story. Bobby ditches the backpack because Jesse is chasing him. Jesse tries to call his partner to stop the detonation, but he's too late. Castle sees the Beethoven shirt that Jesse Friedman was wearing. There's a Beethoven's fifth ringtone. That's the real version of the story the boys said Westside Wally told them.

Jesse called Leann West, who was doing a stand-up at the demonstration. She and Jesse went to Hudson University together. He wanted media attention. She wanted a promotion. The cops found the burner cell Leann used and the detonator in a storm drain. They both had Leann's fingerprints all over them.

* * *

Leann claims she kept quiet to protect Jesse. That's bs! She was keeping quiet to protect herself. Kate swallows at the realization that keeping quiet to protect herself is exactly what she's been doing, just as Castle repeats Jesse's quote about sinning in silence. He's staring at her, not at Leann when he says it. Why?

* * *

Will Castle go out for a drink with her? What did he want to talk about? He can tell her now. She might have the guts to tell him something too. No. He just heads home. What happened? What did she do?

Somehow, he knew she lied. She waited too long to tell him the truth. Now she can't tell him anything at all.


	45. Chapter 45

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 45

Something's changed between her and Castle. He's pulling away. Lanie thinks he might be tired of waiting and that he can't wait forever. What if she and Castle end up like Lanie and Javi? She doesn't want to lose what they have, but do they have it anymore?

* * *

There's a murder. Lanie's there too, and she won't let the thing about Castle drop. She thinks Kate should tell him how she feels. Kate's gutted herself up to do it when Castle arrives in his Ferrari, complete with a giggling blond. And he's letting the bimbo drive it! What the hell?

Castle looks like he's just been run over by a truck - a truck named Jacinda - a flight attendant. He says everything has never been better. Not for Kate. Everything is falling apart.

The maid saw a man run out of the victim's room. Finally, she's getting a break about something. It wasn't a robbery. The cash and valuables are still there. The victim fought. Was the man the maid, saw a one-night stand that turned deadly?

* * *

The victim, Naomi Allen, was one of the top models at a booking agency. Her booking agent, Claire Panchard, doesn't recognize the sketch of the man the maid saw but says Naomi had been booking unconventional events like parties. Did she want to connect with wealthy men? Naomi wanted to get into an album launch party, but Panchard didn't have any connections to help her.

* * *

Did Naomi get in and meet her killer? What happened to Kate's mind meld with Castle? She's thinking about Naomi's murder, and he's talking about inviting a bunch of models to a party. Isn't the blonde flight attendant enough for him? Castle's more in sync with Ryan.

* * *

Their mystery man is Colin Hunt. He's wearing a towel! She shouldn't have told him to raise his hands, but the assets uncovered by the fallen terrycloth aren't bad. He's a Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard. Naomi's father was his partner, Terence Allen. He claims he loved Naomi like a little sister. That rings true. Lots of cops get close to their partner's families like Espo did with Ike Thornton's son.

Hunt was looking for Naomi's killer. He was searching for a clue Terence had taught his daughter to leave in the lining of a suitcase. He claims there was a message to him about Naomi's killer, but he wants on to the case before he'll say what it is. He's driven. She can understand that. It's a lot like she is with her mother's case.

* * *

The captain is going to allow Hunt to join the investigation. Castle is pissed off at how readily Hunt was welcomed in, but not as pissed as she is about the damn flight attendant.

The message is a key. She and the boys will have to find the locker it fits.

Naomi did get into the album release party. She got into a fight with the hostess, Rapper Nicky Jay. Kate will be talking to Nicky, but Castle doesn't want to do the interview with her. He has a lunch date. Since when has he let lunch interfere with pursuing a case? Something really is off.

Hunt goes into interrogation with her. He's good!

Nicky claims that Naomi was making a move on Biggie Slim, whom she claims as her man. Security gave Naomi the boot. Nicky says that she was with Biggy Slim all night after that and that Biggy was not interested in Naomi. Naomi had claimed that she was being followed. Was she? Did Nicky Jay and Biggy Slim really go straight home?

Colin says that men who play around never change. That's cynical, but is it true? Castle used to be quite the player - or that was his reputation. Lanie thought he'd changed. Was she wrong? Is the blond a sign of Castle backsliding into old habits?

* * *

Lanie thinks Hunt is cute, but that Jacinda might just be a passing thing with Castle. She wants to know just how long Kate will take to find out.

How long is she going to wait? It's been months since Castle said he loved her. Has she run out of time?

* * *

Hunt is having a tough time understanding Naomi's behavior. She knows how he feels. Naomi was in love with a young doctor who died. After that, she changed. People change when you're not looking. Castle did.

They found the locker. It has a picture of a gray-haired man in it. There's a number on the back, but it's not a phone number, Social Security number or address. They can't make any sense of it.

* * *

Castle wants to know what they found. He says he loved lunch. He's been gone for hours. What else did he love?

The man in the photo is Nigel Wyndham, Deputy General at the British consulate. Hunt gets the lowdown on him from Scotland Yard. He had a girlfriend who died mysteriously on holiday in Rome. Wyndham was hardly devastated. He married rich to get his position. Apparently, he doesn't take his vows very seriously. He met Naomi for a romantic dinner at Nobu. That couldn't have gone well. The next day, security removed Naomi from Wyndham's office. He yelled something about Cynthia.

Castle thinks Wyndham's story makes perfect sense. The man was stuck in a marriage of convenience and met the young and beautiful Naomi. She was irresistible. Does Castle see himself stuck with Kate in a relationship of convenience? Is Jacinda the young and beautiful woman he can't resist? Castle thinks Naomi wanted more than a fling. She was a threat to Wyndham's marriage - and his career. What does Jacinda want?

Hunt doesn't want to agree with Castle. That's not the Naomi he knew. But he isn't sure.

* * *

They need Wyndham's prints to see if they match the ones Lanie pulled from Naomi's neck. Kate and Hunt will go to a party at the British Consulate. Hunt will be masquerading as a Sir Alfred Heath whom Hunt's buddies in England said would be a no-show.

Her sleeveless black gown doesn't leave much to the imagination, although the way Castle is staring at her, he seems to be using his. Maybe she's getting his attention back, but she can't do anything about it now. She takes Hunt's arm.

* * *

Hunt's not dipping her like Castle did, but he's not a bad dancer. He seems very comfortable in the surroundings. He says it's because he's with the most beautiful woman in the room. Does she really need that kind of a complication right now? Hunt says his job comes first, but sometimes he wishes it didn't. She knows the feeling. Isn't that what Royce warned her against in his letter?

It's time for her to go into her act. Nigel Wyndham is holding a glass. If they can get it away from him, they'll have his prints. Wyndham says she shouldn't be discouraged by his wedding ring. What a worm!

He still has his glass while they're dancing. She gets him to put it down on a waiter's tray so Hunt can snag it. Uh oh! Hunt's been headed off by security. Time for plan B. She'll have to put her light-fingered skills to work. Lifting Wyndham's card case is more complicated than getting a cellphone out of Castle's pocket was, but she can handle it. The shiny surface should be just what she needs. There's only one place she can hide it, but women have been hiding things there ever since Eve.

* * *

After all that, the prints don't match! Wyndham isn't the killer. Could he have hired someone? How can they find out? Wyndham has diplomatic immunity. They can't bring him in for questioning.

Castle's been working on the case with Jacinda! He took a picture of the number on the back of Naomi's photo of Wyndham. Jacinda recognized it as the ID for a diplomatic pouch carried by Royal Eastern Airlines. Wyndham signs for all the pouches. The case is all about smuggling. More help from Jacinda; they can get information about the pouch. The airline keeps a copy of the waybill.

Castle doesn't understand why Kate's mad that he shared the number with Jacinda, especially since it broke the case. Damn! It had nothing to do with confidentiality. He's been building theory with another woman, a flight attendant. Yeah, Kate and Castle are not a couple, but she still feels like he's been cheating on her.

* * *

About a year ago, the pouch went to Uganda. Naomi's boyfriend was killed in Uganda around the same time. That can't be a coincidence. It wasn't just documents. It weighed 200 pounds. There were 10 other pouches like it. One is at JFK right now.

They can't legally search the pouch. It will get him in trouble back home, but Hunt is determined to find out what is in it, whatever it costs him. She violated enough rules pursuing her mother's case. She and Hunt share a lot.

Hunt's in the baggage area. He has only a minute before his cover will be blown. The pouch is a crate. It has missiles in it. Hunt is claiming to be Agent Bauer. Not too creative. Castle would have thought of something better, but Hunt got the job done.

* * *

They can't prove Wyndham knew what was in the crate and since Hunt obtained their evidence illegally, they can't use it in court. Stinger missiles connect to Naomi. Her boyfriend, Aiden Miller, worked for Doctors Without Borders in Uganda until his helicopter was shot down by guerrilla forces. They used a stinger missile. Naomi was looking into how the rebels got it. She was trying to find out who Wyndham's partner is.

Naomi started investigating a year ago at a party given by Paulo Macuzzi, leader of the rebel army in Uganda. Something at the party led her to the consulate. The romantic dinner with Wyndham was just a cover to get the pouch number from his office.

Castle wants to know what Naomi was doing with Biggie Slim if the case was about smuggling missiles. Kate hates to admit it, but it's a good question.

* * *

Biggie Slim aka Darius Young launched several failed internet startups. Both the British authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission thought he was out to fleece investors. Nigel Wyndham lobbied on Biggie's behalf. Biggie has a cousin who supplied the missiles.

Naomi was looking for evidence on Biggie Slim. He killed her for it. Nicky Jay lied about Biggie's alibi. His fingerprint on the body proves it. He didn't care about Uganda, just the money he got for the missiles. Wyndham will be stripped of his diplomatic immunity and go down too.

* * *

Colin has to go back to London. He's in hot water, and he has to face the consequences, but he wants to buy her a drink before he goes. She tells Colin she has paperwork to do, but she really wants to talk to Castle.

Castle won't talk to her. He says he has a date. He likes Jacinda. He says she's simple and uncomplicated, and that's what he needs in his life right now. Kate's relationship with Castle is anything but uncomplicated. Did she make it that way? Maybe it's too late to fix it.

Having a drink with Colin won't lead anywhere, but at least it will be a distraction from picturing Castle with Jacinda.

* * *

Colin had said that Naomi's dad would be very proud of her. What difference does that make? Naomi is dead. Wouldn't Terence Allen rather have his daughter back?

Wouldn't Kate's father rather have her alive, than die going after her mother's killer? Castle tried to tell her that, a year ago. Is it worth putting her father – and Castle- through that kind of pain to go after her mother's killer? Is it worth her own life?


	46. Chapter 46

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 46

She has a whole cart of stuff to go through, but she's making good progress. She should do well at the trial. What's Castle doing at the precinct? He wants to see how she's doing. That's sweet. Damn! He just wants to know about that nutcase Slaughter. The severed heads homicide, that's why he's really here. Not a problem. Hell! Of course, it's a problem. She sends him to the morgue. That's where their partnership belongs.

* * *

The boys say that Castle researching with another cop is just a phase. It's a dangerous phase. What's that thing in Castle's nose? He beat someone up? Looks more like the other way around. He's going to get himself killed.

Castle invited Slaughter to use the 12th's box. Where does he come off doing that? He hasn't exactly been a member of the team lately. That room is her home, and she invited him into it. Now he's leaving her behind.

Where is Castle going with Slaughter now? She can't talk to the boys about this. She can't go to Lanie either. Her friend will remind Kate that she told her to make a move and she dragged her feet too long. She needs a session with Burke.

* * *

The shrink can see that she's upset. Duh! Of course, she's upset. She thought that she and Castle were moving closer together and now it seems like he's pulling away.

Burke wants to know if she's asked Castle why. She says she has, and he said everything's fine. But that's not true, is it? She hasn't asked him why he's backed away from her. She hasn't asked about their relationship at all. She's been afraid of what she'd hear.

Burke wants to know why she shouldn't think everything is fine. Castle's acting like a complete jackass, that's why. He shows up at the precinct with bimbos hanging on his arm, and now he's running around with another cop.

Bimbos? One bimbo, actually, Jacinda. But isn't that enough? No, the other cop isn't a woman. Why would Burke ask that? That's not the point. The point is that she doesn't understand why Castle is acting like this. What did she do?

Burke thinks it might be what she didn't do. Castle told her he loved her. That was seven months ago. She wasn't ready to hear that then. Burke asks what she thinks Castle is telling her by his behavior. Is he not there anymore? Is he not ready? What if she waited too long?

Burke says she wasn't waiting, she was healing. But she knows she was also lying every day that she pretended she didn't know that Castle was in love with her. Has he moved on or is he protecting himself from risking his heart again?

She remembers the hurt and confusion she saw in Castle's eyes when she told him she didn't recall the shooting. And then she threw Montgomery's death in his face. She was the one shot, but she wasn't the only one wounded. What should she do?

Burke wants to know what she wants to do. She doesn't know.

* * *

Castle is laughing with Slaughter. Ryan says It's like Castle is cheating on them. He wants to say something, but she can't let him stir things up any more than they are - not until she's ready.

* * *

The night is endless. Burke's words are echoing in her brain. What does she want to do? She wants to be with Castle. She's wanted to be with Castle since he signed her book, so many years ago. She was too young and too fragile then. Then when she met him again, the pull was still there, but he was acting like an obnoxious brat. It took her too long to see through the child to the man beneath. She filled it with Tom Demming. Stupid! By the time she was ready to tell Castle how she felt, it was too late. Then Castle was with Gina, and she was with Josh. She should have done something when they were both free, but she never had the guts to take the step.

Had a man ever told her he loved her before and meant it? She didn't think so.

The wall she's built around herself is still there, but there are cracks in it. There had been more of them every day until Castle showed up with Jacinda. Now she wishes the wall were more solid again because she feels like another bullet is trying to burn its way into her heart. She'll have to figure out what to do soon, one way or another. Her barrier is no longer protecting her, it's just keeping her from everything she wants.

* * *

Espo's worried about Castle. He thinks they need to do something. She tells him that if Castle really wants to leave the nest, there's really nothing they can do about it. He doesn't believe her. He wants to know if she really feels that way. Of course, she doesn't. She couldn't stand it if Castle really got hurt or worse, killed. She can do some research of her own. There must be something she can find on Vales to get Castle away from Slaughter - alive.

* * *

Slaughter pressured a kid into making a false statement so that Slaughter could arrest Vales for murder. That was crossing the line for Castle. He wants to make things right. She can't give in too fast, not after the way he's been behaving, but Castle's like a whipped puppy. She can't hurt him anymore. It's time to give him the traffic cam shot taken 10 blocks from where the murder took place. The image is time-stamped three minutes before the fatal shots were fired, and Vales' car is heading in the opposite direction from the murder site.

Vales can't be seen in the vehicle. The picture won't be enough to change Slaughter's mind - but if Castle has something else…

Castle looks shocked that she had his back, but he does have something. Glitch, the victim, climbed a six-foot fence to get away. Why would he when there was a subway station within easy reach? And why run when he could hide? Maybe Vales wasn't trying to start a gang war.

* * *

Oh no! It's Slaughter. He's going to get her suspended - at the least - for jumping his case, but she can't back off now. She and Castle almost have the answer, and she can't let Slaughter or anyone else stomp on justice like that, even to get a man like Vales. She's too much her mother's daughter.

She and Castle are building theory again. It's like he took a bolt cutter to an iron band that had been squeezing her chest. She can breathe.

There's a pay phone. Glitch must have been calling someone for help, someone who killed him instead. A call to the phone company will tell her who.

* * *

Now they just have to convince Slaughter to get the real killer. It's Brian, Glitch's father. Glitch screwed up too many times, disgracing his father and the Westies. Brian did what his twisted mind thought had to be done.

They have Glitch's killer, but she can't let Vales just walk. She has to let him know that she can make his life a living hell if he doesn't leave her city.

Castle is doubled over. What did Slaughter do to him? And Slaughter's asking her for a date? Yeah that'll never happen.

Castle can barely talk, but he's thanking her for keeping Slaughter from putting the wrong killer in jail. She tells him that's what partners are supposed to do. She realizes that he started doing it for her from their first case together.

He had her back. He had it when he made the deal to protect her. He still had it when he asked her to walk away from the case - but she wouldn't listen.


	47. Chapter 47

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 47

The victim is David Locke, a currency exchange trader. Perlmutter is at the scene, and he believes the COD is blunt force trauma. His eyes are almost glowing in fascination at a bite on the body. He says the killer latched on like a pit bull trying to tear the flesh. Ew, that's a vision she doesn't need.

There was a strange looking lace cuff in the victim's hand. Castle says its circa 1870. He explains that he did research on the era for a comedy - except that it wasn't funny. Investigating cases with Castle hasn't exactly been funny lately either.

David's boss, Mike Matthews, says that David arrived by 4 a.m. because he handled the Asian markets. He claims that David was well liked but that someone keyed his car the week before. Charlie Coleman was suspected of the vandalism. David beat him out for a promotion and Charlie didn't take it well. That gives her two common motives, money and jealousy.

Charlie comes to work at 4 a.m. as well. Matthews notes something that Nikki Heat would call the odd sock. Charlie's car is there, but he isn't.

* * *

Castle is acting disappointed. Not as disappointed as she's been with him, lately. He thought that with the bite mark and the old-fashioned clothing the case would be more intriguing. He says he wanted this one to be special. A butterfly bumps against the lining of her stomach. Why would he want this one to be special? Won't there be another one?

Matthews said Charlie is a little odd, but he's acting more like he had a psychotic break. He wants her to shoot him!

She's got Charlie calmed down a little, but he's still not making much sense. He says David saw something that attacked him. Then the thing attacked Charlie. He claims no one believed him. She's not surprised. He begs her to use her gun on him when he begins to turn. Turn into what? A zombie? He thinks he's been bitten by a zombie. Unless he's putting on one hell of an act, he really is a candidate for Bellevue.

* * *

The 911 call Charlie made has him describing a zombie too. He reported it killed David. His delusion - or his lie - is consistent. Castle believes Charlie believes what he's saying. She's more interested in evidence.

She receives some, but she doesn't like it. The bite marks on Charlie and David were made by the same teeth, and Charlie didn't make them. Castle is having a great time. He really is enjoying talking about a zombie killer - or is he just enjoying annoying her?

Really? The traffic video shows someone looking like a zombie. Castle's so excited about it he high-fives one of the other cops. This case really is getting on her nerves.

* * *

Charlie won't leave. Ryan says Charlie recognized the picture of the zombie from the video. Charlie thinks the killer is out there building an army of the undead and he's afraid he'll become part of it.

Why would a zombie go after a currency trader at 4 a.m. in a parking garage? Castle is practically dancing with glee when he tells her the more intelligent the victim, the tastier the brains. She guesses no zombie should be chowing down on what's inside his hard skull anytime soon.

There was nothing from the crime scene canvass, but David left his house at 2 a.m. Where was he between then and the time he arrived in the garage? He sent a text to a Greta Mastroianni. Looks like he might have been after an early morning booty call.

* * *

Greta told the boys that she asked David not to come. She's engaged to a Tom Williams. They were together five years, but when she was 21, she had a two-week intense affair with David. She ran into him in a coffee shop about three weeks ago, and they started up again. Tom found out by reading emails on her computer. She broke it off with David and begged Tom to give her another chance. She and Tom were together at the beginning of the night David was killed. David emailed Greta from his work account. Tom would have known where David was. Kate's still got one of her motives - jealousy.

* * *

Tom admits that he was angry that David interfered in his relationship with Greta, but he says he and his fiancée are trying to build a life together. He also has an alibi. He's a pre-law student. He says before finals the law library stays open all night. He was there from 3-6 a.m., and he has witnesses.

Damn! It had to be Tom. There are no other suspects. No one else had a motive.

Castle says that if the killer looks, acts and dresses like a zombie, he might think he's a zombie. His motive would be a random urge to kill. Great! How do you find a random killer?

Ryan reports that there is a chemical on the bottom of David's shoes. The compound would have come from an abandoned factory. Maybe knowing where David went between 2 and 4 will give them a clue as to why he was killed.

* * *

Castle is not enthusiastic about checking out the factory. He wants to leave. Footsteps! Who's after the people who are running? That can't be! It's a zombie horde!

Castle tells her to get behind him. Wow, that's what he did with the tiger. Whatever his reason was for pulling away, his impulse is still to protect her. They're back to back, and they're surrounded. This can't be real. She has to start acting like a cop, not an actress in a bad horror film. She orders the horde to halt and stop behaving like zombies.

Looks like they're more scared of her than she was of them. They're not zombies, just people zombie walking - playing a twisted form of tag. Castle can't imagine how he didn't know about it. Yeah, stupid dress-up is the kind of childish thing that would appeal to him.

One of the players must know something about David Locke. She's taking all of them to the precinct.

* * *

Now that the players are just a bunch of people, Castle seems to have lost his enthusiasm for the game. He wonders what the appeal of being a zombie is. He thinks a vampire is a gentleman monster. He asks what kind of supernatural creature she would like to be. That's obvious, Van Helsing. Right now, she feels like she could slay someone.

David Locke wasn't part of the zombie group. So, what was he doing at the abandoned factory? One of the zombies seems to be high. What's that all about?

Finally, they have something! A cultural anthropologist who'd dressed up to study the group recognizes the killer zombie as Kyle Jennings.

* * *

The boys found Kyle - dead. Perlmutter doesn't have a COD; he's about to cut Kyle open to find out. He does know that Kyle's teeth match the bite marks on David and Charlie and that the blood on Kyle's clothes belongs to David. Castle is disgusting Perlmutter, asking if there is a way to tell if Kyle is really a zombie. She's pretty disgusted too. Kyle Jennings is a human killer, but what or who killed him?

Kyle's not dead! She tells Castle to call for back up, but what is the backup for catching a zombie?

* * *

Kyle is in the ICU and Castle still insists that the erstwhile zombie rose from the dead. Kyle still has no human motive. He is an insurance salesman, and he has no record.

* * *

Kyle is awake, and he looks as human as Castle - maybe more human. At least now they can get the motive from the source. Kyle claims he doesn't know David Locke. He insists that he doesn't remember what happened at the zombie walk or killing David. Not an amnesia story! It's like Bobby Lopez all over again. Castle has a weird look on his face. What's he thinking?

Castle believes that Kyle isn't telling the whole story. He's sure Kyle remembers. He insists that when a life-altering moment occurs, people remember. The way he's looking at her, it's like he isn't just talking about Kyle. Does he know she lied? How can he?

What can she say? She can keep talking as if their conversation is still about Kyle. She suggests that maybe the situation is just too big for Kyle to deal with, or maybe he can't face it just yet.

Castle wonders if Kyle will ever be ready to face it. Is he asking if she will ever be able to accept his confession of love to her?

She tells him that Kyle will when he feels safe. Castle seems to know that she is talking about herself.

What is Perlmutter doing at the hospital? He doesn't exactly have the bedside manner to treat live patients, and he prefers not to. The churlish M.E. came because Kyle's blood-work revealed that he had scopolamine in his system - a lot of it. It would have made him so suggestible that he would have done whatever anyone told him to without any memory of it afterward. Kyle could be telling the truth! He might be innocent!

* * *

Someone engineered the killing. That someone would have to have been at the zombie walk. That makes sense. Ryan says scopolamine is known as the zombie drug,

There was that zombie who was obviously high when she questioned him. If someone were selling scopolamine, he would know.

It's all coming together. The dealer was Tom Williams. He has an alibi because he got Kyle Jennings to do his killing for him. David must have followed Tom to the zombie walk. That's how he got the chemical on his shoes. But she has no proof. Tom Williams is using everything he learned in pre-law. He's not admitting to a thing. He smirks at her from holding. Castle thinks they should go at Tom sideways.

* * *

She brings in Greta. Even faced with all the evidence Greta won't believe her fiancée would kill David. Kate still has no evidence.

When she's letting the still smirking Tom out of holding, Espo announces that Kyle Jennings is out on bail. Terror replaces Tom's smirk. He demands protection. He claims that Kyle is going to come after him.

Kate gives him one concession. Esposito will take him back to his apartment and make sure it's clear. After that, he's on his own.

* * *

Castle is ready. His decay is nauseating. The voice he's producing with his electronic gadget is pretty convincing too. This could work. Tom must have sh*t his pants when Espo went down, and Castle showed up in Kyle's costume. He confessed, begging for his life, like the coward he is. Castle did such a great job that his zombie voice is still freaking Espo out.

* * *

Castle tells Kyle his costume really made their plan work. The D.A. dropped the charges. Castle asks if he can borrow the outfit for another day. She doesn't even want to think about what he wants it for, but Kyle tells him to keep it. Kyle says his zombie walking days are over. He just wants to put it behind him.

Castle wonders how Kyle can do that. He thinks Kyle is going to need therapy. With Burke's words ringing in her mind, she tells Castle that therapy helps.

He's surprised. He says he didn't know she was seeing a therapist. She explains that she didn't want to make any excuses; she just wanted to get the work done. That meant she didn't tell Castle either, but she thinks he knows that.

She's hoping that he will understand that now she's almost at a place where she can accept everything that happened the day she was shot - everything. She takes a breath bracing herself for her next step. She tells him that the wall she'd told him about on the swings is coming down.

He says he'd like to be there when it does. Thank God! She admits that she'd like him to be there when it comes down too.

She doesn't know how, but Castle does seem to understand everything now. She's hopeful when she asks about tomorrow. Will they grow together again? Yes, he repeats "tomorrow," back to her.

But now there will be no more tomorrows. Whatever happened, whatever he believed she'd done, he was willing to forgive her. She had the future in her hands, but now it's gone.

* * *

A/N The high-five cover image is by Artifex Prime. For fans of Fillion Drawing of the Day, or just cool art, her store is now open at artifexprime dot-com. As you might imagine, I will be finishing this story tomorrow. After that I'll be going back to writing AU. I'll let you know how in tomorrow's A/N.


	48. Chapter 48

Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 48

Castle was naked under his graduation robe. She would have loved to see that. He's going to be watching John Woo? Yes, of course, she'll join him. She can use some blood that isn't flowing from a real body. Better than that, keeping him company the night of Alexis' graduation will be one more step in moving closer to him again.

There were two guns. Maybe there was more than one killer. The victim had been carrying something heavy. His pockets are empty, but he was hiding lockpicks in his shoe.

He's a thief, Orlando Costas, who used to run with the Cazadores. He hadn't been arrested in years. He'd cleaned up his act and joined the military, serving as an MP in Germany. That would have made him part of law enforcement. Why would he turn back to crime and how did he end up dead in an alley?

* * *

Orlando's girlfriend Marisol Cartagena says he was with her last night, but when she woke up, Orlando and her car were gone. She thought he'd gone to look at the listings at the career center. He was out of work, and since her hours had been cut, money was very tight. Damn! A man serves his country and comes home to that. We should be doing better. Was he so desperate for money that he went back to his old life?

* * *

Orlando was meeting someone. There was a shootout. Oh God! Orlando had been coming from Captain Montgomery's house! This couldn't be connected to her mother's murder, could it?

* * *

The dead robber had been stealing files and Roy Montgomery's old computer. He pulled a gun on Evelyn, but she shot him in the shoulder with Roy's old 357. That was the nonfatal wound. Evelyn had been sleeping with the gun under her pillow. Kate isn't the only one who's been living in fear since Montgomery sacrificed himself. Fortunately, the kids weren't home. Evelyn said she wasn't supposed to be there, either. It was as if Orlando was expecting an empty house.

* * *

It was no ordinary burglary. No valuables were taken, except for Roy's laptop. There was nothing that could quickly be turned into cash. The robbery had to be connected to one of Roy's old cases. Could this be the lead she'd been waiting – or dreading - a year to find?

Who was Orlando talking to before he was killed?

She needs Castle right now. She needs him to say something reassuring. He responds that there are thousands of break-ins in New York City every year. Yeah, but how many of them are just looking for files?

Orlando's killing feels different from some fallout among thieves. The man who hired her mother's killer took out Raglan, McCallister, and Montgomery - everyone who could identify him. Montgomery died trying to protect her. The puppet master still attempted to kill her because she was trying to uncover his identity. Every morning she wakes up waiting for the second shoe to drop. Did it just crash into the floor? Why is she still alive?

Castle looks almost - guilty. What is he thinking about? Montgomery did call him before the shootout with Lockwood. Does Castle still know something she doesn't?

* * *

Castle brought coffee. He wants to know if she got any sleep. How could she? He says she's not in this alone. He's there. She knows that. It's the only thing keeping her sane right now. She reaches for his hand.

Wait! Montgomery's house may have been hit for the Cazadores. The robbery could actually just be about gangs. Montgomery busted the cousin of their leader, Diego Gutierrez. The gang might have been after evidence that might have convicted him. But why was Orlando involved with Gutierrez after so long?

* * *

Gutierrez claims he wasn't in the alley.

* * *

Damn! The ballistics don't match the bullet that killed Orlando. The DNA Lanie pulled from the tissue under Orlando's fingernails doesn't match either. It's not a match to anyone in the system, but it did match DNA found at the site of an old shooting - hers. This is about her. The man who shot her was the same man that killed Orlando!

Castle sits close enough that she can feel his warmth. He's trying to comfort her. She doesn't need comfort, she needs to nail the bastard who killed Orlando and make him tell her who ordered her shooting - and her mother's.

Ryan says that they should tell Gates what they've found. No way! Gates will pull her off the case, and she can't quit now.

No! Why is Castle saying that maybe she should be off the case? He's supposed to have her back. He says they tried to kill her once and if she keeps going they'll try to kill her again. What's to keep them from trying to kill her anyway? The only hope to put an end to this is to solve Orlando's murder, and get the guy who put a bullet in her chest. She's been waiting a year to get a clue to that shooter. She'll be damned if she'll turn the investigation over so someone can screw it up.

Can she get Gutierrez to talk? What did Orlando tell him? Why was he in that alley?

Gutierrez says that Orlando was in bad shape. Gutierrez promised him some work if he'd come back to the Cazadores, but Orlando wanted no part of that. He just wanted a loan. He said he had something big coming up that would fix his money problems. But then Orlando called Gutierrez for protection. He said that everything had gone wrong.

Gutierrez made Orlando's return to the Cazadores the price for his help and proposed the meeting in the alley. Orlando was desperate enough to agree. He had a good reason. By the time Gutierrez got to the alley, Orlando was dead. Gutierrez caught a glimpse of Orlando's killer before he disappeared into the night, but all he can tell Kate is that he was a white man about 6 feet tall. That's more than she had before.

If Gutierrez proposed the meet in the alley, how did Orlando's killer know about it? He must have been tapping Orlando's phone.

Who would know that Orlando could be turned back to breaking and entering? Espo thinks it must be someone from the military, maybe someone who knew him. That's a place to start.

Castle is still trying to pull her back. He says that whoever has gotten close to the secret is dead. Damn, she knows that! He insists that it's clear that they're over their heads. He's never said anything like that before. What's wrong with him?

Orlando got a $10,000 transfer to his account. It was untraceable, but Marisol knew about it. She started paying bills with it right away. She lied. She knew Orlando was into something - and she's on the run. She's going to have to give Kate the truth now.

* * *

Espo was right. Marisol says Orlando was hired by someone he knew from the service. It was just supposed to be one easy job for a lot of money - money they needed. The task was to get an old cop's files - all of them - anything Orlando could find.

Marisol never saw the man who hired Orlando. He left messages in the mailbox, coded so she couldn't read them. But she said Orlando met him at a church on State Street.

* * *

The charity box at the church has been broken into so many times that the church has security video.

* * *

There's an image of the killer. The boys want to contact CID and use facial recognition to find him. She can't let them do that. There have been so many corrupt cops, she doesn't trust anyone. There has to be another way to find him. She won't lose the lead.

* * *

Flashes of the whole history of the case bombard her thoughts as she stares at the murder board in her apartment. There has to be a way to identify the man on the video without tipping off her mother's killer.

Espo has something, a tag from a rental car agency. It's not much, but it's a trail to follow.

Why is Castle at her door? She can't wait to tell him what Espo found. What? He wants her to stop! What package? What deal? No! Castle was part of it!

How could he do that to her? He says it's because he loves her, but that she's known that for about a year. So, he did find out that she lied. Was that why he pulled away? But if he loves her, how could he keep her away from the one thing that's been driving her? No, she is not pulling back. If they want a war, she will bring it straight to their doorstep.

He tells her it's over. He's done. He says it's her life, and she can throw it away if she wants to, but he's not going to stay and watch her do it.

He's gone. After the way he betrayed her, she can get the murderer without him. But she feels like half her heart has just been ripped from her body.

* * *

She fingers her mother's ring as she stares at the stone above Johanna Beckett's grave. She can't let her down. Even without Castle, her mother will have justice.

* * *

The shooter is going under the name Cole Maddox. The boys are tracking the car he rented. Ryan wants her to bring a team. No! If the man pulling Maddox's strings has a mole in the department, she's not about to tip him off. Ryan can keep up the tracking, She and Espo will take the shooter down.

* * *

Montgomery's files are in Maddox's room. So is his wedding album. What could Maddox have wanted in there, a clue to Montgomery's unknown friend? Maddox attacks her and Espo. Espo is down! She's on her own, but he has no idea who he's dealing with. She throws all her strength into fighting him. It's not enough. He's enjoying this. He says she didn't know who she was dealing with. He knew he had her all the time. Why doesn't he just kill her? There's someone he needs to find. The man Castle was talking about; the one who made the deal to save her?

* * *

She's barely hanging on. Where is Castle? Is that his voice she hears calling her, telling her to hold on?

Is that Castle's hand catching her? No. it's Ryan, and he brought Gates. She's seen the captain angry before but never like this.

* * *

Gates says that Kate and Espo dishonored the city and the badge. They're both on suspension. After all she remembered, after all she's been through, does what Gates did to her even matter anymore? There's only one person who matters, and she drove him away. Gates can keep Kate's badge - forever.

A few things from her locker, her elephants, are all she's taking with her from all the years she's been fighting her battle.

* * *

It's raining. The sky is echoing her tears. She's at the swings, the place she opened herself to Castle enough to tell him that she needed her wall to fall. The pieces dropped as she hung from the building, remembering - remembering everything. Castle was her lifeline through all of it.

* * *

She tries to call him - again. Even after he would have been home from Alexis' graduation for hours, he doesn't answer. Is he really done with her? She needs to see him, make him understand how sorry she is for everything.

* * *

Her hand trembles as she knocks on his door, but not from the chilling water that's soaked her. What if he turns her away? His eyes are hard with anger and hurt as he demands to know what she wants.

It's not enough to say the words. She has to touch him, show him. He resists as her hands cradle his face. Her lips can't stop repeating that she's so sorry. He pulls away when she kisses him. He asks what happened. How can she tell him all that she's relived, all that she realized? She can only say that the man she was after got away and she didn't care. She almost died, and all she could think about was him. She just wants him.

He's pulling her inside. He kicks the door shut and pushes her against it. She can feel his hunger for everything he's been denied for four years - everything she's denied him. She guides his hand to her breasts, to her scar. They're both scarred - but now they can begin to heal together. Their fingers entwine. This was the dream that was meant to be -always.

Finis

A/N Thank you all for joining me on this foray into Kate's thoughts. I appreciate your thanks for my brief presence in your days. My next story will pick up right where this one leaves off, but it will be AU. Caskett's first night together will bring an unanticipated result. Join me again for _Love's Gift_.

Today's cover art is by Artifex Prime. If you are a fan of her work, you can order prints from her new online store at dot-com.


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